Like Broken Mirrors
by LaurynLou
Summary: Slade has been after Robin longer than anyone has thought and this time Robin won't have a say in the matter. After all, he got one thing right: Slade hates to lose and he doesn't intend to, even if it means bringing in some help.
1. Gaze Upon the Wreckage

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the Titans.

**A/N: **Alright, this is the first chapter fic that I have done in years and the first one with an actual real plot, so that I am proud of! I have spent years reading apprentice stories and have always wanted to write one of my own and I have finally done it! Yay me!

Just a couple quick things before we start. First, this will reference the first chapter to another story that I have written called "Dark Side of Night". It's not necessary to read this, but it will give you more clarity on the events that took place the night before this chapter. If you don't read this, I have included what happens later on in the story, so it's up to you if you want to know right off the bat exactly what happens. Second, please, if you catch any errors or plot holes throughout the story, let me know and I will fix them.

As all my stories go, this has not been through a beta reader. ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Like Broken Mirrors<strong>

**Chapter 1: Gaze Upon The Wreckage**

Robin awoke to a knock on his door and warm light shining through his blinds, hitting his face. He rolled over and glanced at his alarm clock. 11 am. How had he managed to sleep so long? It wasn't often that he was able to sleep in past 7 am. There was too little time in a day to waste it by sleeping in.

A night full of bad dreams and thoughts of the night before rushed back to him. He had gone out alone on another patrol last night. It was nothing unusual, something he did now and again, but it hadn't gone as planned. It had been a quiet, peaceful night and so he had headed home. That was when things turned. There had been a murder and a hostage situation, but he hadn't seen the man hidden away at the other end of the alley and the hostage ended up dead. A woman and her husband, leaving a small child behind. He didn't want to think about it anymore. What he wanted was to go back to sleep and forget everything. Robin groaned and pulled the pillow over his head, trying to block out the lights and ignore the insistent knocking at his door.

"Rob? You in here?"

Robin peered out from under his pillow to see Cyborg standing in his door way, hesitant to enter his room.

"Man you never sleep this late! You feeling ok?" Cyborg asked as he stepped into his leader's room, more concerned now that he had found him still in bed.

"Yea" Robin flinched at the as his voice came out hoarse, coming out from under his pillow to sit up. He cleared his throat and let his feet hang over the edge of his bed as he looked up at his friend. "Just a rough night."

Cyborg looked at his friend, skeptical. He could tell that it was a little more than just another "rough night". After all, Robin was notorious for hiding things. Ever since the Red X incident and the whole apprentice fiasco, it was hard to take anything the boy said at face value. More than anything, he had wanted to believe him, drop the subject and turn away, hoping that if anything was wrong, Robin would fess up right away and seek help. But Cyborg knew better than that. If Robin were in trouble, he would deal with it himself until he was either forced to ask for help, or dug himself a hole he could not get out of.

He also noticed Robin's appearance. True he had just woken up, but the kid looked like Hell. Even with the mask still in place over his face, Cyborg could tell that he had dark circles under his eyes, as if he had barely slept at all. He looked exhausted and mentally drained. He made a mental note to ask Robin about it later. For now, he would let it go. He was here for other reasons.

"We were all about to head out. Star wants us all to spend the day together. Some sort of 'team bonding'. She's downstairs right now trying to convince Raven to go to the mall."

"I think I'm gonna stay behind, you know, get some work done. Tell Star that I said I was sorry."

Cyborg gave one last look at his friend before nodding, turning around and heading out. Robin sighed, flopping back onto his bed and burying his head under his pillow, allowing himself to drift back into unconsciousness.

**††**

Robin woke a few hours later, feeling much more rested that he had when Cyborg had woken him up. He threw on his uniform and ran some gel through his unkempt hair, hoping to get himself feeling at least a little bit better, more normal. One glance at the clock on his nightstand told him it was only around 4 o'clock so he assumed the others were still out. He knew that if they had made it to the mall like Starfire wanted, then they would still be gone for a few more hours. It would give him some time alone to think about the events of the night before and how to prevent it from happening again. It would also give him time to come up with a story to tell the others, should they ask about his 'rough night' and his reasons for not joining them on their outing.

He knew that, realistically, he would not be able to prevent all evil that occurred in the world. Last night he had failed to save someone and left a little girl orphaned. It was something that he knew he would have to live with for the rest of his life. It wasn't the first time he had failed, Red X was proof of that. Even if the mission itself was the wrong thing to do, his mission objective as Red X failed. He failed to trick Slade and failed to gain the information that he sought. He also knew that it would not be the last time that failure would find him and that knowledge didn't keep him from dwelling on it, nor did it keep him from blaming himself.

Robin headed down to his work room, where he could hide away for the rest of the night, even after the other four titans returned home. For now, he just wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. He knew Starfire would come looking for him once they got home to tell of their adventures and show off all the little things she had found at the mall. There was no way around it. Starfire was the kind of person that felt the need for everyone she knew and cared about to share in her joy. Especially him. He knew exactly what would happen. He would play along and indulge her, at least for a little while. Then he would tell her that he was extremely busy, even if he wasn't, just to get her to leave the room. After that he would watch her spirits drop as she claimed to "understand" with a worried expression settled on her face before leaving him alone once again, feeling guilty for turning her away.

As he approach his destination, the door swooshed open automatically. He walked in and walked over to his work desk, door swooshing closed behind him. He looked down at the many news clippings and pieces of various gadgets he had been working on littering the table top before him when something caught his eye. Among the objects lying on the table was a sharp, metal looking "S". What unnerved him about this was it was easily recognizable as Slade's insignia. In fact it looked to be just like the one from his apprentice uniform, the badge that had sat in place if the "R" over his heart. The one that he had thrown away. Made sure to get rid of. Wanted absolutely no reminder of as it resembled one of the worst times he had yet to come to face. The madman had threatened the lives of his friends and forced him to become his apprentice against his will. He reached down and picked up the vile object, inspecting it carefully.

"Quite a collection you have here."

The calm, familiar voice made shivers run down his spine and his blood run cold. The metal "S" in his hand fell to the floor, landing just beneath the table, forgotten. Robin didn't need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. Of course that didn't keep him from doing so. His heart pounded and he could feel the chill running up his spine as he slowly turned his head, body following the motion until he was fully turned around, face to face with the man he had never wanted to see again.

Standing in front of him, as if it were no big deal for him to be there, was Slade, casually flipping through one of his many books filled with more clippings and research. Robin couldn't believe his eyes. There, right in front of him, standing in Titan's Tower was one of the his most detested rivals. The root to many of his problems.

"W-what are you doing here? How did you bypass the security system?" He question, his voice sounding more surprised than he had wanted.

Remaining silent, the man stopped, setting the book down on a nearby shelf, folding his arms and looking down on the boy. In response, Robin pulled out his bo staff, getting into a defense position, ready for the fight he knew would come. Slade's eye gleamed beneath his mask and Robin could swear he heard the man chuckle as he stepped toward him.

**†_Titans Tower_†**

"Oh, what a glorious day!" Starfire burst into the common room, hovering a few feet off the ground. In her arms, she carried numerous bags of different sizes and colors which contained many things that she had collected throughout the day.

"Man! I can't wait to get this thing into action so I can kick your sorry butt!"

"Dude! What makes you think you have the skills?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy argued back and forth, excitedly debating over who would conquer their newest gaming system first as they entered the room. Raven followed silently behind them, making her way over to the couch, already digesting her newest book.

Starfire stopped, setting all of her new stuff onto the table, watching her fellow Titans gather around the common room, feeling as though something was missing.

"Perhaps I should go see what Friend Robin is up to. Oh, he will be so excited to see all of the new stuff I got today!"

Cyborg looked up from where he was currently trying to hook up their new system to the television, Beast Boy bouncing beside him impatiently.

"Yea and tell him to get his butt up here! I need to talk to him!"

Starfire nodded, once again taking hold of her bags and flying out of the room excitedly, towards the work room where she knew her friend would most likely be. Just as before, the door to the work room opened with a _swoosh_, revealing an unexpected scene. Before her was not the cluttered work room that she was familiar with, containing news clippings for wallpaper and neatly stacked books of research. What she saw now set her on alert. The work room was trashed, the majority of the clippings falling off the walls, lying on the floor. The work desk that was once in the middle of the room now sat on its side near one of the far walls. She noticed splashed of red on the edge of the desk, as well as on the floor below and a nearby wall, making her flee the room.

Quickly, Starfire flew down the halls of Titan's Tower, towards Robin's bedroom, the medical bay, the evidence room, the gym...any place that should could imagine her friend could have been to. She knew she would not find him, but a small part of her could not help but carry hope that she was wrong. That there was some sort of explanation for the condition she had found Robin's work room. As feared, she found no hide nor hair of her best friend.

Seconds later, Starfire burst into the common room, where her unknowing friends were doing exactly what they had been when she had left. In a way it irked her how she could go from a scene so disturbing and in shambles, to a scene that was so familiar to her.

"Friends! Robin is gone!" The alien girl exclaimed, now standing in the middle of all three of her friends.

"Whoa, calm down Star, he probably just went out. Did you check his room?" Cyborg tried to reason.

"Yea," Raven agreed, "You know how he is, he probably just took off or has buried himself in his work somewhere."

"No! You don't understand! Something horrible has happened to Robin. I've checked all of his usual places. Please! His work room is destroyed, we must find out what happened to him."

"Star, if something went wrong while we were gone, then my security system would have alerted us." Cyborg told her, confident in his own technology.

"Please! Come see for yourselves!" She pleaded with them.

"Alright, alright! I'll come with you. BB, don't touch that game until I get back. Rae, I'm trusting you to make sure he stays put."

Raven looked up from her book, eyebrow raised as Cyborg followed Starfire out of the room. "I don't _do_babysitting."

Within minutes the two came to the work room, the door swooshing open as they headed inside. Cyborg stopped, taking in the sight of the wrecked room. The room was much worse than he had anticipated. Honestly, he was expecting the room to be messed up due to Robin having another one of his tantrums that he often had when he got too caught up in his work and couldn't figure something out. Even in a fit of rage or frustration, Robin would never purposely destroy all of the books of evidence that he had spent so much time gathering. It wouldn't make sense. It was obvious that something happened. The bits of blood that splattered the wall and the news clippings that lied on the floor were proof of that. Bringing himself back to reality, Cyborg lifted his arm up to his face, enabling the communicator that was built in there, calling out the two titans up in the common room.

"Guys, maybe you should get up here. Starfire's right, it's pretty bad."

Cyborg lowered his arm back to his side as he walked further into the room, taking in his surroundings. Once in the middle of the room he knelt down, shifting around through the bits of paper.

"Who could've done this? Who could've gotten through both my system and Robin?"

"I have a pretty good guess." Raven answered as she entered the room. Beast Boy followed closely behind her, not believing the wreckage that he saw around him. He hadn't even noticed when she stopped, causing him to bump right into the back of her. She paid him no mind, staying focused on what she had spotted.

Cyborg looked at her as she stood next to him, seemingly staring down at her feet. Cyborg followed her gaze to see what had caught her attention. He couldn't believe what he saw. He picked up the object, staring at it disbelievingly. Suddenly he knew who had been in the tower. Who had attacked their leader. There was no doubt about it. The metal "S" that he held in his hand could only belong to one person.

"Dude, no way...is that..." Beast boy said, leaning over his friend's shoulder to get a better look at the object he held in his had.

"I think so," Cyborg answered.

"But you don't think..." Starfire asked.

"Who else could've." Raven chimed in.

"How can we be sure..." Beast Boy questioned.

"There's one way to find out." Cyborg said, getting up and heading out of the room.

Once again the Titans gathered around the common room, the security footage pulled up on the large monitor in the room.

"But how do we know that it truly was Slade that broke into the tower? How do we not know if this thing was not some part of Robin's research?"

"Remember when Robin returned after the whole apprentice thing? Remember how adamant he was to put it behind him? First thing he did was get rid of the uniform, which included this thing." Cyborg explained, holding the small insignia badge in his hand.

Starfire had many questions, thinking of any reason why metal insignia would have been in the work room. Truly, there really could have a million reasons for it to be in there and it could have been anyone, she _hoped_ it was anyone. Anyone _but_ Slade. They knew the dangers of Slade, but only Robin knew what the man was truly capable of. Only he fully understood what horrors Slade possessed. Horrors that to this day, Robin would refuse to go into detail about, claiming that "it no longer matters" or that he's "moved on" whenever he was asked something specific.

"That is exactly what we are going to find out. We will find out who did it, how they did it, and when." Cyborg responded, typing his password into the computer system that was now displayed in the common.

"Sounds like we are playing clue. At least we already know where it took place! Now, we just have to figure out who done it and with what."

"Now is _NOT_ the time!" Raven growled at Beast Boy, who could only put his hands up in defense and give a sheepish grin.

"He is not answering his communicator. Perhaps he had chased out the stranger who entered our home. Perhaps it was damaged in the processed." Starfire said hopefully, coming up with another excuse, as she had been doing since leaving the work room and returning to the common room of the tower. She held her communicator up as she tried to reach Robin again. The three other teens looked at her, wanting to share in her hopefulness. They knew her ideas were plausible, but they also knew that just how highly unlikely they were.

The four teens looked up at the screen that had the footage pulled up. Several video feeds filled the screen, each one showing a different part of the tower. Cyborg located the surveillance files from earlier that day, beginning from the time that they had left. It was also the last time that he knew Robin to be safe within the tower, still in his bed. He began to fast forward through them, carefully searching specific feeds for anything suspicious. It didn't take long before every screen went black, cutting off before Robin was even seen leaving his room. Cyborg slowed the feeds down so that they were playing normally, the black screen steadily playing.

"Looks like someone had managed to hack into the security system."

Cyborg was about to fast forward again when activity began on the screen in the form of static and lines. Suddenly they found what they were looking for. Answers. The remaining Titans stared at Slade, and he stared back at them, in full uniform. His cold, grey eye somehow looking both down and through each one of them. It was obviously a pre-recored message, but that didn't make him seem any less threatening than if he were standing right in front of them.

"Sorry to cut you off, I'll make this really short. I'm here to finish what I started, so if you don't mind, this is just between the two of us. Don't worry, you won't be able to find us, though you are welcome to try. Not that you could stop me if you did. "

And with that the screen went black, leaving the Titans with some of the answers that they so desperately wanted to know, yet leaving them with so many more questions. The four sat in silence for a moment before Beast Boy dared to speak up again.

"So what do we do now?"

"Now, we find Robin." Cyborg answered, stepping into leader position.

**_†Slade's Hideout†_**

The moment Robin began to open his eyes, he regretted it. He wasn't sure where he was but his head was killing him. He could tell that he was lying in a bed, which definitely was not his. For one it was smaller than the full that he was used to and the firm pillow that cradled his throbbing head, certainly was not his. His hand slowly lifted to his eyes, covering them, blocking out any extra light that threatened to get through.

As he lied there he tried to recall where he was or how he had gotten there. He could remember the alley, a dead body and a woman's scream. He had been out on patrol...had something happened while he was out? What happened after than? Images of Cyborg waking him up flashed through his head, a good sign. He at least knew he had made it home that night.

_So what happened?_

Robin tried to retrace his steps after being woken up, but his head felt clouded and his memories weren't clear. He moved his hand from his eyes to his forehead, trying to console the pounding running through his head. A bandage wrapped around his head made him pause for a moment, before feeling around his head, trying to locate the injury the bandage was trying to conceal. On the back right side of his skull, he felt a large gauze being held on by the bandage, most likely concealing a large gash of some sort, as if felt tender, even a bit wet.

It was obvious he had been in a fight of some sort, but with who? And where did he meet them? Memories began to rise and he could remember that the team had left...gone to the mall...he hadn't of gone...he could remember waking up and going to his work room...

Robin's eyes shot open, a single image coming to the forefront of his memories. Slade. Slade had been in the tower and he was attacked. And he had obviously lost. A bit panicked, Robin looked around the room, trying to figure out where he was. The light that he had so determinedly tried to keep out, wasn't as bright as he first had thought. Actually it seemed pretty dim now that his eyes were fully opened. In an attempt to get a better idea of his surroundings, he rolled over onto his side and instantly felt the need to empty the small contents of his stomach, which he did, right into a trashcan that had been placed at the side of his bed, apparently for this very reason.

_When was the last time I ate?_

It had been awhile if the small amount of bile in the bucket was any indication. He knew he ate not too long before going out on patrol the night before Slade showed up at the tower. How long ago that was, however, was unknown. For all he knew, it could have been earlier that day, or it could have been days ago.

Wiping his mouth and sitting upright, letting his legs hang over the side of the bed, right next to the small trashcan, Robin continued on, taking in the small room. The walls were a plain white and a single light in the middle of the ceiling. His bed was a small twin bed with gray sheets and a white pillow. Next to it, a small grey night stand with a glass of water that he dare not touch, no matter how dry his mouth was. His guess was that he had been drugged and he would not risk it happening again. Down by the foot of the bed, on the left wall was a doorway, leading into a tiny bathroom with a sink, small shower and a toilet. No door. A small white and grey desk, with a black chair sat on the left hand side of the room, against the wall opposite his bed, on the right a door. The room itself was small, only about 10 feet by 10 feet. From what he could tell, he could not see any cameras around the room and doubted that there were any. If there had been, he would have expected someone to have been in here by now, giving him some sort of explanation or instructions.

Knowing the door would be lock, Robin got up off the bed and headed for it anyway. Just as expected, the door handle would not turn, locked from the outside. The door itself was steel, so there was no breaking through it and no matter how hard he tried, the door would not budge...as expected. Without his utility belt, which he noticed had been removed, along with the lock picks in his gloves, there was no hope of him leaving this room anytime soon. At this point there was nothing that he could do but wait. Robin walked back over to his bed, lying down, trying to rid himself of both his headache and his nauseous stomach.

**†.†**

At some point Robin must have fallen back asleep because before he knew it he was being woken up by someone opening the door. With the pounding in his head not so intense, he was able to slowly roll over and see who it was that had entered the room.

Robin recognized the old man that had come into his room, a tray in his hands. Though he did not really get to speak to him during his previous time with Slade, he did get to observe him and the way that the two men interacted with one another. This man was known as William Wintergreen. It seemed like Wintergreen was sorta like Slade's servant and reminded Robin a lot of Alfred. He didn't know how the man knew Slade or how he had come to work for him, but he knew that the man wouldn't be much help to him in his escape. For some reason he was dedicated to Slade and the two seemed to share some sort of strange respect for one another.

Wintergreen set the tray on the table, next to a pile of neatly folded clothes which had not been there the first time he had been awake, meaning that Wintergreen had been in the room already.

"Good to see your finally awake. I was starting to think that maybe Slade gave you too much of an overdose." Wintergreen turned around to face Robin, who was now sitting up in the bed, watching the old man.

"Overdose? With what? How long have I been out? Is he insane!" Robin stopped himself for a second, "Wait, don't answer that. What does he want this time?"

"It is not my place to tell you these things. My advice to you would be to eat, your going to need the strength. You'll feel better once you do. Then I suggest you change your clothes. I will be back in 30 minutes to change your bandages and take you to Slade. He has many things he'd like to discuss with you." Wintergreen turned to leave.

"Yea right, how do I know there isn't anything _funny_ in that stuff?"

"There would be no sense in bringing you all the way here just to poison you, nor would there be any sense in waiting all this time for you to wake up just to drug you again. Its safe."

"Where is 'here' anyway?"

"Again, that is not my place to tell you." Wintergreen turned once more to leave, this time, giving Robin one last knowing look before shutting the heavy door and locking it behind him.

Robin stared at the bowl of soup that sat on the desk. Somehow, he knew that if Wintergreen said it was safe to eat, that it would be. He didn't know how long he had been out, but he knew it must have been awhile. His stomach rumbled loudly as if to prove a point.

Robin got up and walked over to the desk, sitting down and staring at the bowl before him. It looked harmless enough. Lifting the spoon up and scooping some of the red substance out of the bowl, he brought it up to his lips, giving it a small taste. Tomato soup. Giving into his hunger and the temptation presented to him, he let himself finish the bowl of soup within minutes before grabbing the glass of water and gulping it down. Finishing his small meal did make him feel a little better. Already he felt like he had a bit more energy than he did a few minutes ago and the tomato soup even helped to sooth his still nauseous stomach.

He looked over at the clothes that sat on the table, picking them up piece by piece to inspect each item. The items were very plain, not that he expected a suit and tie, but he had expected some type of uniform as last time. On top of the pile was a fresh pair of grey underwear and a pair of white socks. Next a plain white t-shirt, then a pair of black pants.

"At least I'll match the room. Camouflage!" Robin declared sarcastically.

Grabbing the pile of clothes, Robin walked back over to his bed, setting them down. Reluctantly, he began to shed his Robin uniform. In a small way he was happy to have clean clothes, as his uniform was pretty dirty, covered in blood from his head and sweat either from the fight or the drugs in his system. While he would have preferred another one of his own uniforms, he was just happy that Slade was not making him wear his former apprentice clothes.

Once dressed in his new outfit, Robin folded up his discarded uniform and placed it on the table before climbing back into the bed and lying down, waiting for Wintergreen to come back. Once that happened, he would hopefully be able to get a better idea of where he was and start to figure out an escape plan. He would also then be able to come face to face with Slade and hopefully figure out just what kind big of trouble he was in.

* * *

><p>If this has made you happy, please return the favor and make me happy by reviewing!<p> 


	2. Somebody's Watching

Disclaimer: Nope, nothing yet.

**AN: **Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed/subscribed/favorited, it made me so happy that I wanted to put this up sooner than planned. I was originally going to wait a week, that way I can have a week per chapter to edit everything and get it ready to post (FYI the story is pretty much already written), but I decided to do this early. ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Somebody's Watching<strong>

**†_Slade's Hideout†_**

As promised, 30 minutes later Wintergreen appeared at the door with a first aid kit in hand, setting it down on the desk. He pulled out the chair, wordlessly suggesting for Robin to take a seat. Knowing that the wound needed to be tended to, he obediently sat in the chair, allowing the elder man to remove the bandage form him head.

"Seems to be healing just fine. Its stopped bleeding so I am not going to re-bandage it. Allowing it to air dry will do it some good."

Wintergreen carefully cleaned the wound, making Robin wince at the touch. The alcohol swab used didn't help with the pain either. He wished that he could remember exactly how he had gotten it. He still couldn't remember everything that had happened to him before his capture. The cut on his head was evident that the two of them had fought and that he had obviously lost, as he was now stuck in this tiny room.

Wintergreen silently finished and packed up the first aid. He motioned for Robin to follow him out the door, who immediately followed, eager to get out of the dull room and get to Slade, where he hoped he was be given answers.

Once out of his room, Robin made sure to take in as much of his surroundings as possible. Outside of his room was a long, narrow hallway. Though much darker than his room, light still came from various lights placed along the wall. They two of them past a few random, most likely locked doors here and there before making a right down another hallway, which led to a much larger room than his own. Robin didn't notice any windows to the outside world in both the hallway nor in the room to where he was led.

Here Slade was standing, waiting patiently. In front of him, a simple chair, which Slade pointed to. Robin balled his fists, resisting the urge to pummel the figure which now stood in from of him. He tried to keep himself in place and remain as calm as possible, knowing that now was not the time. Not only did he still lack the energy, but he needed answers and pissing Slade off would not deliver them.

"Sit."

"I think I'd rather stand."

"Robin, don't make this more difficult than it has to be. Sit down or I will make it so it will be quite awhile before you _can_ stand. Then we can try this again." Slade motioned to the chair once more. "Now, do you want to sit, or would you rather take an alternative route."

Knowing Slade could and would make good on his threat and wanting to just get this over with, Robin reluctantly plopped himself in the chair, folding his arms across his chest and narrowing his eyes, showing his displeasure.

"Wise choice." Slade folded his arms behind his back, taking an authoritative stance. "Now, do you know why you are here?"

"You were bored?" Slade ignored the comment and continued on.

"Last time we parted you said something to me that couldn't be more true. You told me that you know how much I hate to lose. Well, you were right. I do hate to lose, which is why, this time, I don't intend to. I have big plans for you. You have a destiny to fulfill and, whether you like it or not, you will fulfill it. If it wasn't for your _friends_, we could have been much further along by now."

"What have you done? Where are the Titans?" Robin jumped from him chair. For the first time since he had arrived, the safety of his friends entered his mind. Up until this point he had only been worrying about himself, hadn't even thought of his friends. He had been selfish. What kind of friend did that make him? Probably not a very good one. He didn't know what kind of plans the man had for them. Had Slade captured them as well? Had he infected them with probes again? Were they safe back in the tower? Had the Titans even noticed his disappearance yet? Would they even come looking for him this time?

_Of course they would._

The problem was, he was sure that they wouldn't know where to find him. Slade was smart and would have covered his tracks, that is, if he even left any. He wasn't even sure that the Titans would know that it was Slade that had him, or that he was kidnapped at all. If only he could remember his last minutes in the tower, he would know how hopeful to be. Sometimes, its the not knowing that can drive you crazy.

"Don't worry, the Titans are back in Jump City, safe. I'm not playing any little games this time and I don't need blackmail."

"Back in Jump?" They left the city? While relief over the Titans subsided, panic began to rise in Robin as another realization hit him. They could be anywhere in the world. He never even considered that they could have left the city. Having been knocked out, he wouldn't have known where they would have taken him. He didn't know how long he had been out either. It could have been just a few hours or it could have been a couple days. He had no way of knowing.

He had assumed that like last time, Slade would have taken him to some place in Jump City, where he would then dangle his friends in front of him in hopes of getting what he wanted.

"I've realized that I can't just throw you into a role and expect you to fulfill it, even with the right motivations. It is something that you will need to be taught and have time to accept. You will need to be properly trained."

"You're crazy if you think I am just going to give in and follow orders."

"No, I didn't think so. You don't have to like it and we don't have to get along, but you will do as your told. Sooner or later you will come around to see things my way and for your sake I hope it will be sooner than later. You have no options. This will happen whether you let it or not. We will begin your training tomorrow morning, after you get some rest. I imagine the drugs you were given left you drained and by then should have left your system."

"Drugs...what did you give me?"

"Fentanyl injection...a long with a few other sedatives to keep you out." That explained a lot. No wonder he felt so nauseous and confused upon wakening.

"For now, however, I can see you're not in any condition to accomplish anything, so you may be excused. Wintergreen will be waiting for you outside to take you back to your quarters. We will continue this when you are better suited." Robin stood from him chair, again needing to restrain himself from letting his emotions take over. He hated to admit it, but the man was right, he was in no condition to accomplish anything. Now would not be a wise time to take on Slade...tomorrow however, was different. For now, he needed to try and come up with a way to figure out his location so that he could get out of here and get back to Jump.

**††**

Morning came quickly and just as Slade had promised, Robin felt back to normal, no longer ill and his energy had returned. As the night before, Wintergreen showed up at his door with his first meal. It wasn't much, just a couple of eggs, bacon and sausage. While Wintergreen reminded Robin a lot of Alfred, his cooking surely did not. The food was bland and didn't fill him up, rather just leaving him satisfied.

Afterward Wintergreen led him down the same hallway and back to the same room, where Slade was once again waiting, chair no longer in the room. He wasn't sure what he was expecting out of today, other than the fact that he knew it wasn't going to end well. With his body feeling relatively back to normal, he knew it was going to be harder to convince himself to not try and murder his captor.

"First things first, I want to make one thing clear to you: This is where Robin ends. That part of you is dead and he will _not_ be coming back."

"So who do you want me to be? Slade, Jr? There's no way _that_ will every happen."

"I want you to start over, from the beginning, before everything. We will wipe the slate clean and start as fresh as we can."

"You're not making any sense..." Robin shook his head, looking down at his feet, analyzing just what Slade was telling him. He had an idea of what he wanted and he wasn't going to give it to him. His identity meant everything and even though he hadn't of left Gotham on the best of terms with Bruce, he refused to do that to him.

"I'm making perfect sense and to do this you need to remove your mask. The mask belongs to Robin."

"No thank you, I think I prefer Slade, Jr. If I don't get to know you, you don't get to know me."

"I am not playing games, nor am I making any deals. I am not asking you, I am telling you. Richard, take of the mask." Robin's eyes shot back up to look as Slade disbelievingly. He may have been refusing to tell Slade his identity, but it looks like Slade had tother plans.

"I...How long have you known?" His voice came out, barely above a whisper.

"I have known who you are for quite a while. I believe its right around 18 months to be precise. Came about it on accident really."

"18 months? But...I haven't even been a Titan that long..."

"You're a clever boy Richard. I had come to Gotham on business, both as a mercenary and a businessman. While there, I took notice of you, knew there was something special about you. I began to observe you and the more I did, the more I recognized your potential. I'm actually quite surprised Batman hadn't caught on. There were a few times I thought that he may have suspected something and perhaps he did, but he never acted on it. Imagine my surprise when I figured out that the Bat was none other than Bruce Wayne, the man I was currently doing business with. It was like fate had led me right to you. You many not realize it, but we had even met a few times before you left."

Robin sat there taking it all in, feeling a bit disturbed. Slade had been watching, stalking him while he was still in Gotham? He didn't like that Slade had that much of a head start on him. Slade had shown up only months after his beginnings in Jump. Robin had always thought that Slade had been from the city, since that is where he believed he had been discovered by him. Robin never had any regrets of moving out to the West Coast. It was as far away as he could get from Bruce and at the time that was the only thing that had mattered. It had led him to meed the the Titans, friends that he now considered his new family. The only thing he ever wanted to change about it was his involvement with Slade. He always figured that if he hadn't of moved out there, the two never would have had an encounter and the apprenticeship never would have happened. Working under Batman was always better than being forced to work under a psychotic madman.

This new information irked Robin in more ways than he could imagine. He tried to remember his life back in Gotham to see if anything had seemed out of place during his last few months there. He realized he had been so caught up in his own pity problems to notice anything. He was so wrapped up in his own world that he probably wouldn't have even noticed his Slade had come right up and announced his intentions from the get go.

He could remember, however, Batman becoming more strict, tightening the leash on him towards the end, which is what pushed him to the edge and caused him to leave. He thought the man was just trying to control him, get him to do things his way, smother him. Maybe Slade was right and he had suspected something was going on. Maybe he had good reason to be overprotective. If that was the case, it wold explain a few things, but, in his eyes, it still didn't make it right. Bruce should have told him if he had any suspicions.

"There is hardly anything that I _don't_ know about you. I have told you once before and I will tell you again: It has _always_ been about you. Now take off the mask."

Robin couldn't help but feel deceived. In a way he had been. Slade had known his entire story this whole time, yet led Robin to believe that he still had something that was his, that Slade could not touch. He also couldn't help but feel a bit deceived by Bruce. He wasn't sure if what Slade said was true or not, but it didn't matter. The fact that he knew Bruce well enough to know he wouldn't tell him had he of known, hurt just as much.

By now, Robin was shaking with anger. He knew he couldn't hold it in anymore and he didn't care to try. He lunged at Slade, fist aimed for his face. Slade of course caught the fist and threw Robin back down to the floor. Robin easily bounced back up, lunging toward Slade once again. This time however, Slade grabbed the boy's wrist, twisting both of them around and slamming Robin up against the wall. Blood began to poor out of the boy's already injured head, running down his neck and staining his white shirt. Slade kept hold of the wrist in his hand, his arm pressing on Robin's chest, keeping him backed against the wall as Robin used his free and to try and pry the larger man off. Slade took this moment, using his free hand, to rip the mask from Robin's face and throwing both the boy and the object to the ground.

The boy sat up, but remained on the floor, looking away from the man who now stood over him. His hand lifted to his head, feeling the blood ooze out of his scalp. Slade sneered at the teenager on the ground, then turned out walked out of the room, leaving Richard alone, his life stripped from him in that single instant.

Minutes later Wintergreen had stepped into the room, most likely sent in by Slade to fetch the boy and fix his reopened wound. Richard silently stood and followed him back to his room without question or complaint, where he was once again locked in. The thought that Slade knew everything and for so long made him feel hopeless and defeated. Had the last year and half of his life been a sham? He no longer knew what was real and what had been influenced by Slade. That single action inflicted more damage than any physical blow Slade could have caused.

He had been allowed to shower before Wintergreen returned to inspect his head, bringing with him a new shirt, this time in black. As before, the shirt and the first aid kit were set on the table, the chair pulled out for him.

"Slade has told me to inform you that for disobedience, you will not be receiving lunch or dinner tonight." Richard sat in the chair, rolling his blue eyes and snorting. Crossing his arms like a stubborn teenager.

"Like I care. _Inform_ Slade that I didn't feel much like eating anyways."

"I understand that you are upset at the way that things have unfolded today, but I suggest that you pick up that attitude of yours unless you want to cause more of a problem. Skipping meals will be the last of your worries."

"Thanks for the advice, but I don't plan on making this easy for him while I'm here. He may think he can keep me here, but he can't."

"Without your friends I don't see how you have much of an option for escape. And before you get your hopes up, the chances of them finding you are dim. I can assure you, they wouldn't even know where to begin looking." Wintergreen finished wrapping the bandage around his head before gathering up his first aid kit. As he made his way to the door he was stopped by the teen.

"Can I ask you something?" Richard still sat in the chair, only this time turned to face the door and the man that was about to head out of it.

"Yes, though I cannot promise an answer."

"What keeps you here? I mean, why are you working for a guy like Slade?"

"You mean am I here voluntarily?" Richard nodded. He thought he was sure that the old man was here of his own freewill, after his first apprenticeship he had often wondered if perhaps Wintergreen had once been forced to work for Slade. Perhaps the man did not want to be here and much as he did.

"I don't need saving if that is what you are thinking. I am here because I choose to be."

"Why would anybody choose this?" The thought was beyond him. Why would someone want to work for Slade instead of living their own life. What made Slade so lucky to have people simply living for them.

"Slade and I go way back, before he became the man that you know today. We had served in the army together, been there for one another on numerous occasions. Together, we have been through more than you could possibly imagine. Through the times that truly make you feel alive, like there is something worth living for, as well as those moments in life that bring you to you knees. What keeps me here, you ask? Its simple. Loyalty."

Richard stared at the man, mentally scoffing at the term 'loyalty'. He carefully took in this new information, memorizing the small details he had just learned about Slade. So he had been in the army? Richard hadn't expected that. He couldn't imagine Slade working for someone and taking orders like you were expected to in the military. He doubted there was a way to bring Wintergreen onto his side, to help him escape, but perhaps if he got to know the older man, he could learn more about Slade. The more he knew about Slade, the better his chances were of beating Slade and getting out.

"I can't imagine Slade as being the loyal type. He's much too selfish for that."

"Selfish? Yes, you are right about that, but he is also loyal. Possessing one characteristic does not account for the lack of another."

"It doesn't sound like the Slade that I know."

"Then that just proves how little you truly know and understand about the man." Richard knew he was right. After all of the hard work and research he had accomplished trying to figure out exactly who Slade was, his motivations and how to defeat him, he still knew very little. He hated to admit it, but Wintergreen was right. He didn't know Slade and he didn't think that he would ever understand him.

"Do you trust him?" The question caught Wintergreen off guard. Having never really contemplated the idea, he took a moment before answering.

"Yes, I would have to say that I do."

"But how can you? After everything that Slade has done in the past, after what he is trying to do to me now, how can you trust him? Knowing what he is capable of?"

"Because I trust myself to know just what the extent of those capabilities are."

"I don't think that I could _ever_come to trust a man like him, no matter what we went through." Just the thought of placing any kind of trust in Slade sickened him. The only thing he knew he could trust about the man was that he was unpredictable. He could also trust that he couldn't be trusted.

"He's not asking you to trust him and if you were wise, you wouldn't." With that final statement, Wintergreen left the room, locking the steel door behind him and trapping the bird in his cage.

The rest of the day went by slowly as the minutes ticked by. There was no clock in the room Richard was being kept in so he had no idea how late it had become as he lay in bed, thinking of his next move.

**††**

The next morning Richard was woken by the opening of his door as Wintergreen walked in to set his breakfast on the table, along with a fresh pair of clothes. Without saying a word, he turned around and left. Richard stared at the food on the table, tempted to get up and gobble it down. He had not eaten since the morning before and his stomach growled at the sight.

Instead, he let his teenage pride get the better of him and rolled over and went back to sleep. Having not gotten much sleep the night before, he was more tired than hungry anyways. Within moments, Richard had drifted off.

He was not woken back up until Wintergreen came back to get him. He heard the door open, but chose to ignore it.

"Slade is waiting for you so I suggest you get up."

Richard looked over his shoulder, in the direction of the man standing in his door way, giving him a skeptical look.

"What, he has more 'lessons' for today?"

"Perhaps. That is between you and him." Richard rolled back over in disregard.

"Well, no thank you. I had enough yesterday. Tell Slade I said he can find someone else to play with."

He heard the door close with a soft 'click', surprised at the lack of persuasion by the old man. He knew he should have gotten up and gone with him. He also knew he should have eaten and gotten ready as he was told to do. He knew he wouldn't get away with his attitude much longer.

A loud bang startled him awake as his steel door hit the wall. Before he even had time to react his sheets had been stripped from him as he was thrown out of the bed and to the floor. In an instant Slade was leaned over him, his face only inches from his own. Richard found it hard to breathe as Slade's cold eye stared back at his blue ones.

"It's one thing to disobey me, but start disrespecting Wintergreen and you won't have a destiny to fulfill. Now _**get**__**up**_."

_Ah. Loyalty._

* * *

><p>Please don't forget to leave a lovely review for me, it would make me so happy :)<p> 


	3. Reflections of an Unfamiliar Face

Disclaimer: I'm working on it.

AN: Just a quick note, this chapter will have references back to "Dark Side of Night". It's not necessary to read this, but if you want to know more of the night before this fic started, go to that. Or just wait and it will be explained in chapter five. Its just up to you if you want to wait or not. Again, if you find mistakes, let me know and I'll fix them :) ENJOY

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Reflections of an Unfamiliar Face<strong>

Cyborg sat on the sidewalk, leaning against the T-Car. The Titans had been out searching for Robin all day and it was time for them to meet back up and head home. In order to get anything accomplished, they would need to get some rest. The first one to show up was Starfire. She landed in front of him with the same look of disappointment that she's had since Robin's disappearance.

"I've searched _everywhere_ and there is still no sign of him."

"We've got to keep searching, Star, he's got to be out there somewhere." Cyborg found that the more time that went by, the harder it was to keep their spirits up. With every passing day, their hope seemed to dim a bit more. Of course it didn't stop him from trying.

"I don't mean to say that we should give up...only, I am not sure where else to search for him."

"I can't believe that it's already been over a week and we are still right where we started. I thought for sure we would have heard something by now. But there's nothing. No suspicious activity, no real crime, not even a word of neither Slade nor Robin. It's like they've just disappeared."

A green hawk landed on the T-Car before changing into the green changeling. Beast Boy now sat on the hood of the car, clothes covered in dirt, most likely from trying to pick up either Slade or Robin's scent as a bloodhound.

"Hey! Get your nasty, dirty butt off my car! Man, you know better!"

Beast Boy slowly slid off the hood, leaving a smear of mud behind him, grinning his apologies at Cyborg.

"So, any luck?"

Beast Boy looked down at his feet at Cyborg's question, softly shaking his head. "Nothing and I couldn't pick up Slade or Robin's scent anywhere. I also did an aerial search...nothing." A sudden thought occurred to him as he looked back up at Cyborg. "How do we even know he is still alive? This is _Slade_ we are talking about. Who knows what he is capable of doing."

"Don't even speak of such things!" Starfire gasped at the thought.

"No," Raven said as she walked up to the group, pulling her hood from over her head, "I don't think Slade would have broken into the tower just to kidnap and then kill Robin. It just wouldn't make any sense. He's alive, that's for sure. Besides, Robin is more useful to him alive."

"So what do we do?" Beast Boy asked his group.

"I hate to say this, but if we don't figure out something soon, we may need to call in for some back up."

"Back up? You mean the Titan's East?"

"Someone bigger." Cyborg answered Raven's question. The three titans, save for Cyborg, looked at one another, clueless to his suggestion.

"Someone higher up on the hero chain. The one person you would think _should_know if anything happens to him." The others, shrugged, still lost. Cyborg rolled his eyes at his friends.

"Come on, guys! Batman?" Cyborg said, surprised that none of the others had caught on to what he was trying to hint at.

"You think that's a good idea? Would Robin want us calling him?" Raven asked.

"Yea, I asked the guy about him once, when we all first got together and he almost bit my head off! I don't think the two of them get along." Beast Boy turned into a turtle, hiding within his shell to emphasize his point.

"Please, who is this Man Bat?" Beast Boy came out of his shell as the other two Titans turned to Starfire.

"I guess you wouldn't know about him, would you?" Cyborg questioned before offering up his explanation. "He is the hero of Gotham City. Him and Robin used to work together, but I guess something happened between the two of them. That was before we all got together. Robin is known as one of the first sidekicks."

"Man, I used to idolize them growing up." Beast Boy said, changing back into his human form.

"Who don't you idolize."

"I don't idolize _you_," Beast Boy turned to Raven, crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out at the gothic girl.

"That's enough!" Cyborg said, not wanting an argument to break out between the two. "I say we call Batman and let him know what is going on. Maybe he can help."

"How do we do that?" Starfire asked.

"Hmm. Good point, I didn't think about that. Lets get back to the tower and go from there."

The other three Titans nodded in agreement with Cyborg, who went around to the driver's side of the T-Car, getting in. In the passenger seat sat Raven, the other two in the backseat. The teens all drove home in silence, the disappearance of their friend and leader consumed their thought. Though contacting Batman made them nervous, they knew it was the right thing for them to do. Any one of them would do anything in their power to get him back.

Within minutes they were back at the tower, all gathered within the common room. Cyborg stood in front of his friends, who sat on the couch.

"So it's settled. Without any leads after a week and our searches turning up absolutely nothing, I think its time to go to someone higher up to help us. There is one problem though. We need to figure out a way to contact Batman. Not only do I think that he should know what is going on, but I also think that he may be able to help us. Any ideas?"

Beast Boy cautiously looked around, before slowly raising his hand. Cyborg took one look at him before eyeing the girls, pleading for them to have an idea.

"Anybody else?" The two shook their head silently as Cyborg sighed and reluctantly turned toward Beast Boy. He could just imagine what out there kind of idea the little green kid would come up with.

"B.B.?" Cyborg called on the green teen, who immediately jumped up, seemingly pulling out a chalkboard from nowhere and began to scribble on it, causing Raven to roll her eyes and Starfire to watch intently at the drawings. By the time he was finished, the chalkboard featured a the crude skyline of Gotham City. In the sky, the bat signal shone and a figure, in the shape of a bat and shaded in, flew towards the signal, as indicated by arrows.

"How is that supposed to help us?" Cyborg asked, trying to study and make sense of the drawing.

"Isn't it obvious? Its how we are going to get a hold of Batman!" Beast Boy said, puffing out his chest in pride.

"And that is supposed to tell us what exactly?" Raven asked from her spot on the couch, skeptical. She was just happy she had yet to see ninjas or aliens on the chalkboard.

"This is how we contact Batman! We go to Gotham, hijack the spotlight and signal him to come to us!"

"You know where this spotlight is?" Cyborg asked, before glancing at Raven. "Not that I'm saying stealing the spotlight is a good idea."

"Sure do! Its on top of the Gotham Police Department. I paid a visit to Gotham when I was younger. Thats when I first saw the spotlight. Cool idea, huh?"

"Uh, yea B.B., cool idea...but we are definitely not stealing from the police. I have a better idea. Instead, why don't we just contact whoever is in charge over at the Gotham Police Department and ask for their assistance...maybe they can rely the message." Cyborg suggested.

"That works too..." Beast Boy sat back on the couch, satisfied that his idea had led to something for once.

"Wow, Beast Boy actually came up with a good idea." Raven said. Beast Boy stuck his tongue out at his friend's sarcasm, before letting her continue on. "But, I'm not sure if its such a good idea to contact him just yet"

"Perhaps our friend Raven is correct. I do think that we should do everything we can to get Robin back. If Beast Boy is correct on Robin's feelings towards this Man Bat..."

"...Batman..." Beast Boy corrected, earning a glare from Raven, before letting Starfire finish.

"then maybe he would not want us giving up so soon and getting him involved."

"Maybe you're right Star. We are the Teen Titans and we shouldn't give up so soon, but how long do we wait before we make the call? How long is too long and how soon is too soon?"

All three teens looked at Cyborg, not having an answer for his questions. How long should they wait before reporting him missing? How long would Robin wait before reporting one of them missing to the people responsible for them? Knowing Robin, he would have found them by now and they wouldn't come to this point. The first apprenticeship only lasted days and there were sightings and interactions with him, so he was hardly ever 'missing'.

"Alright," Cyborg began, against his better judgement, "We'll give it a few more days, but if we don't find anything by the time the week is out, I'm making the call."

Richard landed unsteadily in a crouched position before being harshly shoved over by Slade's foot. He crashed onto his side, taking a moment to catch his breath. He knew Slade would only allow him a few seconds, before he would attack again, mostly out of impatience. To Richard, Slade was the most impatient, patient person he had ever met. He could wait to put a plan into motion for as long as it took, carefully calculating every move, yet when he wanted something done, he wanted it done right there and then.

Exhausted, Richard got to his feet, swaying back and forth. He and Slade had been sparring for the past few hours with little breaks in between. It was obvious to him that Slade had been taking it easy on him in the past. Although he had always been able to overpower him, it wasn't until now he realized just how easy it had been for him. Even now, Slade barely broke a sweat and looked as if he could continue on for hours. Richard on the other hand didn't know how much longer he could last. With the lack of sleep and the lack of food fueling his body, exhaustion came quickly. He grew more tired, more quickly than he had expected to and his body was crying to take a break.

He remembered back during the first apprenticeship and the conflicts that they would get into, but they never lasted this long. Back then, when Slade wanted it to end and needed Robin to listen, he would just pull out the trigger, threatening the lives of him friends and he would give in. Sure, he took a few beating for his attitude or for not obeying last time, but they would always end within minutes, usually with Robin giving in.

This time was different. There was no trigger to end the battle and there was no mission or orders for him to follow. His orders at the moment were to fight back and disobeying those orders didn't get him much further than following them. At first, Richard had refused to spar, not giving up his stubborn attitude. Slade clearly didn't care and was going to fight him, whether he fought back or not. The fact that Richard was sparring with Slade was not voluntary, but rather in defense.

"You're pathetic," Slade scolded. "I know you can do better than what you have today. Your going to need to step it up."

Richard glared at Slade, not even having the energy to give a response. His knees collapsed below him and he fell to the ground, sitting on his folded legs. Normally, he would have hated to show weakness in front of Slade, but at the moment, he was too exhausted.

"Go take a shower. Wintergreen will come and get you for lunch, so don't take too long. Afterwards we will move on to your next activity. " Slade didn't even wait for Richard to reply before leaving the room.

To his surprise Wintergreen didn't come to escort him back to his room, but rather the door was left open for him to find his way back on his own. He walked out and down the short hallway, to the longer one that led back to his room. He knew if he went left, it would take him to his small quarters, but if he went right...well, that was just it, he wasn't sure what would happen if he went right.

Richard stepped into the hallway, turning to face the right. He felt the need to investigate, the detective in him pulling at his insides. He stepped forward before logic overtook him. He turned around, giving the other direction one last glance before heading back towards his room. Wintergreen would be coming for him soon. If he wasn't in his room, Slade would come looking for him and he didn't have the strength for a confrontation at the moment. He needed more time.

He may have known better than to wander down the other direction, but that didn't keep him from checking the doors on the way back to his room. Checking each one as he passed, he found them all to be locked, just as he knew they would be. One back in his room, the steel door shut automatically, locking itself.

Richard turned to face the door, surprised. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen once he got here, but the door shutting on its own told him one thing: Slade was watching. He was definitely happy that he had chosen to come back to his room, rather than wander around the compound. He was sure now that he wouldn't have gotten far. Having the opportunity presented to him was most likely a test and, save for trying to open the door on his way back, he must have passed.

Richard showered quickly. While he enjoyed the feel of the hot water on his skin, making his sore muscles relax, he wasn't sure how long it would be until lunch. He hadn't eaten since the morning before and he was not passing up his chance, not after the workout that Slade had put him through all morning.

As he stepped out and back into his room, wearing only a towel. Over on the table he noticed the clothes that had been laid out for him earlier this morning, the ones he hadn't changed into. Grabbing the clothes, he hurried and put them on. Once fully dressed, Richard leaned over the sink, taking a good look at himself for the first time since he had arrived. The sight made him frown. The boy in the mirror was not who he recognized. His bandages were gone, having removed them himself the night before and his hair hung down almost to his eyes, making him frown.

Running his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end made him wish he had a bottle of gel. He had been spiking his hair for the longest time that having it down felt unnatural and wrong. Robin had spiked hair, he did not. Robin also wore a mask, which he no longer had. Running his fingers through his hair again, only this time, smoothing it back, brought a more familiar figure. Staring back at him with deep blue eyes was Dick. He was now looking at a slightly older version of Dick Grayson, who wore his hair slicked back, a large contrast against the figure of Robin. Richard however, wore is hair...well, he wasn't sure how he wore is hair. The only identities that he had really developed were Dick and Robin. Perhaps Richard lied somewhere in between. Slowly his hair gave way to gravity and fell forward once again.

_So this must be Richard._

It was someone he barely knew. Richard was a more formal name, one usually only used when he was in trouble. It was someone who wasn't fully developed as a person. He hated that Slade was the one taking over, molding and creating Richard.

He heard the steel door to his room open up. Stepping back, Richard peered around the corner to confirm that Wintergreen had come for him.

"Lunch is ready and Slade is waiting for you."

"You mean I am actually going to _eat_ with Slade? "

"That is the idea, unless you are planning on causing a ruckus as you did this morning." Richard's stomach growled loudly, as if to answer Wintergreen's accusation for him.

"Wise choice."

Richard followed Wintergreen out of his room and down the hallway, passing the hallway to the room he and Slade had been sparring in. Soon they came to another hallway, this time turning to the left, which they followed down until they came to a simple room with a table in the middle of it. The table itself wasn't very big and had four chairs surrounding it. On the table sat only one plate, what looked like a sandwich on wheat bread, a medley of fruit and a cup of vegetable soup. Above it was a glass of milk.

"Aren't you hungry? Or are you going to let this go to waste as well?" Richard turned to see Slade walking in right behind him, taking the seat across from the one with the meal in front of it. He immediately sat down, picking up the sandwich and taking a large bite out of it. The sandwich turned out to be tuna. Not his favorite, but at the moment that hardly mattered.

"You're not gonna eat?" Richard asked once he realized he was the only one with food in front of him. Slade sat across from him, leaning back in his chair, arms folded. Seeing Slade just sitting there watching him made him uncomfortable. A still Slade as an unpredictable Slade. It also meant that he was most likely thinking, calculating something.

"I ate while you were showering...more convenient" He said, tapping the side of his mask. He should have known. Slade would have to remove the full face mask in order to eat.

"Oh, right" Richard returned to his food, finishing it quickly. Wintergreen began to clear the plates away from the table as Slade lifted a small suitcase up onto the table. He carefully opened the lid and pulled out a small handgun, setting it on the table in front of Richard, who could only stare at it. The sight of the gun was enough to make put him on edge and he wasn't sure what was expected of him at the moment. So he remained silent. He and Batman may not see eye to eye on everything, but one thing that remained with the bird was the strict policy _against_guns. It was a moral code that most heroes followed. Some sort of silent agreement among them. None of the capes that he knew of used a gun and as far as he knew, they were just as against them as Batman. He couldn't even picture the mixture in his dead. The dangers and evils of guns had been drilled into him since the time he had begun to live at Wayne Manor, before he was Robin and before he knew Bruce was Batman.

"Your homework is to learn how to dismantle and reassemble this gun. You need to know the inner workings of how even a simple handgun operates. I want you to start getting used to the feel of it. That is all you have to do for now." Slade instructed.

"I can't," Richard responded, still staring down at the gun in front of him.

"Of course you can and you will."

"Guns are not necessary. I'm perfectly capable of getting things done without a firearm."

"By the time we are through you definitely will be and your right, guns are not _necessary_, but that doesn't change the fact that is would be wise for you to know how to handle one. Necessity is not the same as practicality."

Richard brought his eyes back up to Slade defiantly. He pushed back his seat, standing in place, arms at his sides and fists balled.

"I'd like to go back to my room now."

"Are you really that against even learning or is that Batman speaking? Does he really have that strong of a hold on you?"

"No, but neither do you. You act like you know so much. You should know I left for a reason." Richard responded, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Then tell me," Slade stood from his chair, taking a step towards Richard, who watched him cautiously, "What's the harm in just learning? Maybe you think that once you learn, you'll see it as an easy way to get things done...maybe you'll become reliant on it?"

"Not a chance!"

"Then what's the problem?"

"I think if I were to pick up the gun and learn to use it, which I _won't_, you'll move onto wanting something more from me. You'll want me to shoot someone, which is the only thing that guns do. Otherwise what's the use in learning anything at all about them. I refuse to shoot someone and I definitely refuse to kill."

Richard knew it was true. Slade's only true intent on his learning how to carry a gun, would be for him to one day use it. That was something that was not ok in his book.

"I never asked you to do kill anyone, now did I? Doesn't matter though as, I hate to break this to you kid, killing is a part of this life, no matter which side of the line that you stand on. You may control whether or not you are the direct cause or if you cause death inadvertently, but sooner or later it will happen. It's just another part of that fuzzy grey area that you've become so familiar with recently."

"Grey area?"

"Need I remind you of the many lines you crossed while playing the role of Red X? That line between good and evil is truly thin and it often gets blurry, doesn't it?"

Richard faltered at the mention of Red X. It was something that he would rather forget about. His fists dropped back to his sides and he refused to look toward the masked man.. Though he hated to admit it, Slade was right, he had crossed many lines during his time as Red X. He had lied to his friends. Betrayed their trust. He freely and carelessly used the highly dangerous chemical, Xenothium Ore, which he had illegally obtained from a mad scientist, which almost felt like a drug deal. He conspired with Jump City's top criminal. He not only broke into several places, but he also stole things before handing them over to said it had been anyone else to commit those crimes, he would have put them behind bars, giving them a lecture how there is no excuse to break the law.

"But its not the same. I admit that I may have gone about things the wrong way and I'm willing to take the blame. At the same time, its not the same as what you are talking about. I didn't kill anyone."

"You may not have killed anyone as Red X, but have you already forgotten the lady in the alley? If you hadn't of been there, its possible that she could have survived her situation and that little girl of hers would sill have a mother. In fact, if I remember correctly, you even gave the gun to the man that shot her, did you not?"

"You saw that?" Richard couldn't believe what he had just heard. How did Slade know that? There was no way...unless... "You set that up, didn't you?" He had to have been behind it. At least then, he would have someone else to blame it on.

"I'm sorry, but I can't take credit for that. As to how I know, you should get used to the idea that see and know all. In fact, there is very little that I _don't_ see. Words you should take into account next time you begin to get curious around the compound."

So he had been right. Slade did have cameras and he saw him trying to get into those rooms on the way back to his room earlier. Good thing he hadn't of ventured down to the other end of the hallway has he wanted to. Had he had cameras around the city as well? If he had to guess, he would say it was a yes.

"I didn't kill that lady." Richard defended himself softly.

"Are you saying that you played absolutely no part in the death of that woman?"

Richard felt doubt rise within him. He knew Slade was right, no matter how he had tried to work his mind around it. He was guilty and he knew it. If he hadn't of failed that night, if mistakes weren't made, that woman would have had a chance to walk out of the alley with her child. But she hadn't and her blood had been on his hand, both literally and figuratively.

"It was an accident..."

"Which is why you need help," Slade took a few more steps towards Richard, putting his hand on his shoulder. "With my help, there won't be anymore accidents. There won't be anymore mistakes made and failure will not be an option."

At least if there was one thing that he would get out of his time with Slade, it would be how to become a better hero and not fail those he were tying to save.

"With the proper training, you will be unstoppable. You only need to learn to follow orders."

Follow orders...this simple phrase made Richard snap out of his thoughts and glare back at Slade with more force than before, shoving the hand off of his shoulder. He had followed orders under Batman. He had followed orders under his first apprenticeship. He was a leader now. If anything, he gave the orders.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I learned my lesson on my own. I understand where I made the mistake and its one that I will not make again. I don't need your help and I'm through 'following orders'. Keep your gun, I'll find my way back on my own."

"Sounds to me like your still following orders." Robin stopped in the doorway. "Tell me, how long will you live under Bruce's shadow? Is that why you still wore the Robin suit? I think I know the answer to that. The leash he had on you was never cut after you left. Instead, you were put behind an invisible fence. Freedom was only an illusion."

Richard turned around to face Slade, who still stood in place, arms behind his back.

"Your right, freedom was only an illusion, but not one created by Bruce. For the past year and a half you have influenced many situations in my life to the point I'm not sure what was real and what wasn't. You made sure that whatever happened, happened to your advantage. This 'apprenticeship' was something that you had planned out for me for a while. Even though you failed the first time, you were the one who refused to cut the lease. If there was ever any illusion to freedom, it was created by you."

Richard walked out of the door and into the hallway, expecting Slade to come after him. This was something that he would fight, It was something he strongly believed in and Slade was not going to change that.

* * *

><p>Clicky click Please!<p>

V

V

V


	4. Complexities Moving In

Disclaimer:

A/N: Thank you to those who are following this story and a HUGE thank you to my reviewers :) You guys make me so happy and I love reading them! This one is a bit shorter than the others, but the next one probably won't take too long to be up :) Here's chapter 5! ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Five: Complexities Moving In<strong>

**†_Titan's Tower_†  
><strong>

With Robin missing for two weeks now, the Titans resorted to their backup plan and had made the call the a Commissioner Gordon early that morning. They hadn't told him what happened, only that they had a situation concerning Robin and they urgently needed Batman's assistance. With no hesitation, Gordon had promised to relay the message the next time he saw the Dark Knight.

That had been hours ago as it was now well past midnight as the four Titans gathered around the T-Car after another nightly hunt for Robin. Of course Cyborg was already waiting as the other three teens approached him, looking hopeful that he had gotten a message from either Batman or Gordon. Cyborg lifted his arm, pressing a button that was connected to the Tower's calling system, just in case he somehow missed something. Sadly, he shook his head. Doubts grew within the group. Had Gordon been able to get the message to Batman? Had Batman he not even cared, as they had feared? Was there no one besides them to care that Robin was gone? The thought alone was enough to make each of the teens feel isolated and alone.

Silently, the four Titans piled into the car to make the trip back to the tower. A heavy sense of disappointment and helplessness hung in the car as not one dared to speak of the boy wonder or his disappearance.

Once back at the tower, Cyborg pulled into the garage, safely parking the car right next to the R-Cycle. The first few nights of the search, the Titans had returned home to the bike, only to believe for a split second that perhaps their leader had returned, before realizing their mistake. Now not one of them glanced at is as they passed by, the sight too much for them to handle after the let down.

A different sight, however, awaited them as they all entered the common room. It was enough to both frighten them and give them hope. Standing in front of the main computer system, going through files was a large dark figure, that turned immediately at the Titan's entrance. There was no doubt about it, this was Batman. The legend that roamed Gotham City and sent terror into the hearts of criminals. As he stood before them, it was easy to understand why. He was definitely an intimidating figure.

"How long has he been gone?" The voice was dark and threatening. Just as daunting as you'd expect from such a figure, making each of the Titans flinch.

"Dude, you really need to update your security system." Beast Boy whispered to Cyborg, who simply ignored his comment.

Cyborg, in his role as second in command, stepped forward, unsure of how to approach the man before him.

"Two weeks. He had stayed behind while the rest of us had left the Tower. When we got back his work room was trashed and he was gone. We know who was behind it, but have had no luck in finding him. We've had no luck in finding _anything._"

"Yes, I saw the message in his file. You guys should have called sooner, the moment had had gone missing, instead of taking the situation into your own hands." Batman lecture them as if he were talking to small children, making them each feel guilt ridden. In Batman's eyes, they had failed to act quickly enough, contrary to their original belief. "Deathstroke is not one to play around with."

The Titans all looked at each other, confused. This was the first time that they had heard of the name Deathstroke. Up until this point everything had always had the name Slade attached to it. Slade was all they had ever known.

"Deathstroke?" Beast Boy asked.

"The man in the video, goes by Deathstroke. He's been off the map for a while."

"No wonder Robin could never find any information on him. All this time we've been trying to figure out who Slade was...its a clever way to stay hidden." Raven said, stepping beside, Cyborg who continued to question the Dark Knight.

"Any idea what he could want with Robin?"

"I'm not entirely sure. The first time he had tried to blackmail Robin into becoming his apprentice. This time though, my only guess is..." Cyborg was suddenly silenced by Batman's hand.

"What do you mean 'the first time'? You mean to tell me this has happened _before!_"

The whole Tower seemed to shake at Batman's outburst, making the Titans cower behind Cyborg. The Titans looked at Batman, partly in fear and partly in not knowing how to answer his question. None of them wanted to tell him about the prior apprenticeship. It may have only lasted a few days, but the results had a major impact on the Titans, Robin in particular. It was something that that they had tried not to bring up before Robin had disappeared for the second time. Any mention would automatically result in either an excuse for Robin to completely avoid the conversation or in him losing his temper and taking it out on one of the other Titans. It was no secret among them that when it came to Slade, Robin had some serious personal issues. Cyborg, looked at his friends, knowing it was his duty to fill Batman in on any information he needed.

"Why don't you guys head off to bed, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Without question the other three nodded, before turning and heading to bed, leaving Batman and Cyborg alone. This was one story they didn't care to live over again.

"Would you like something to drink?" Cyborg asked, only receiving a glare from the unamused Bat. "Right...so to answer your question, this is the second time that Slade has gone after Robin. It was just a couple of months ago. The first time, he had infected us with nanoscopic probes and used it to blackmail Robin into becoming his apprentice. It only lasted a few days. The first time there was activity from him almost immediately. In the end, Slade was defeated and Robin was rescued, though he refused to give too much detail of what had happened during that time. This time though, there are no probes, nothing foreign in our systems. This time, he's dropped off the map. There has been no sign of him since he went missing. They both just seemed to vanish. So what can you tell me about Slade...or, well, Deathstroke."

"I don't know much about him, other than general information. I recognized his mask in the video. He's a mercenary and assassin, probably one of the best out there. His skills are legendary. He's also smart. Really smart. He disappeared a few years ago, long before any of you were ever heroes. It makes sense you wouldn't know who he was. His identity is unknown, though maybe there is something behind this 'Slade'. I've never personally faced him, but I've heard stories, rumors. Even villains seem to fear him."

Even through the cowl, Cyborg could see the concern on Batman's face. Whatever had happened between the two of them may have been enough to sever their partnership, but it wasn't enough to make them stop caring, that much was evident.

"You should join your friends and rest." Batman suggested, as he past the cybernetic teen and headed towards the door.

"What about you?" Cyborg questioned.

"I'm going to see what I can find out about Slade. There has to be someone that knows _something_ and I intend to find them."

With no other word, Batman swiftly turned and walked out of the room, leaving Cyborg alone. He wasn't sure what Batman's plans were to find Robin, but he did know he wouldn't want to be in the shoes of anyone that might encounter Batman tonight. He trusted and hoped that the man would be able to find that one detail that they missed, that one witness they had overlooked and he would have this case solved in no time. If anyone could find Robin, it was Batman. He wasn't called the "World's Greatest Detective" for nothing.

**†Slade's Hideout†**

Richard didn't know how long he had been with Slade. He knew it had to be well past the count of days and into the count of weeks. How many weeks had be been here? If he had to guess, it had been at least two, maybe two and a half, since he had woken up. He kept time by the healing of his head. By now it was mostly healed and soon he would lose that as a tool. Since he wasn't sure how long he had been unconscious when he initially arrived, he hadn't really kept count of the nights.

Everyday it seemed as though Slade's training intensified and everyday he was forced to push himself further. It was either push himself more than the day before, or face a rather harsh beating. He had yet to be able to form an escape plan. With a steel door that locks him in for the majority of the time he is alone and Slade's cameras watching his every move at any other moment, very little escape opportunities were presented to him. The closest he had gotten to escape, was when he panicked one morning and ran. He ran through the halls of the compound, unable to find a door leading out. Of course he didn't run very long, as Slade quickly caught up to him, dragged him back to the training room and continued their session. He hadn't even had time or a clear enough head to memorize his surrounding as he ran. Needless to say, Slade wasn't happy went all out, holding absolutely nothing back. The next thing he knew he was waking up in his room, being treated by Wintergreen. He didn't have too many detailed memories from that session, which he saw as a good thing.

Today, however, Richard was actually keeping up with Slade. They hadn't been going for very long, but he could tell a difference from their previous sessions. He wasn't sure if he was actually just getting better or if Slade was just taking it a bit easier today. Today was also the first day that he got to use a weapon. Slade had surprised him by returning his bo staff to him, at least for the training session. He doubted that he would be able to leave the room with it. Richard was close to getting a hit in when Wintergreen appeared unexpectedly in the doorway/

"Ahem. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I believe I may have a...well, a situation."

"What kind of situation?" Slade asked.

"Well, somehow, a dog has gotten into our compound." As if on cue a black dog entered the room. He appeared to be a Great Dane, maybe a mix. He was closer in size to a German Sheppard, rather than a full bred Great Dane. Richard knelt as the dog came up to him, licking him in the face, making his laugh for the first time since he had arrived. Wintergreen simply watched the scene before continuing, "What would you like me to do with him?"

Slade stood back, contemplating his options as he watching Richard scratch the dog behind the ears. "Hmm...Wintergreen, grab my gun." This answer made Richard jump to his feet, appalled at the idea. Wintergreen didn't question the request and left the room to fetch the gun.

"Wait! Your gonna kill him!" Slade looked at the boy, amused.

"Of course I am. I don't have the time to dispose of him otherwise."

"But you can't just kill him!"

"Why not? He's just a dog, don't be so sensitive." Slade said, looking down on the boy. Oh, don't tell me this where your going to ask me to keep him? Plead for his life?"

"Well, no...why don't you just let him go? Maybe he will just go back to his home?"

"And if he doesn't? We don't need that thing to hang around outside and risk attracting any kind of attention to this place." Wintergreen walked back into the room, handing the handgun to Slade. Richard recognized it as the gun Slade had tried to make him study. Slade stuck a single bullet in the gun and aimed, preparing to shoot the defenseless dog.

"Wait! Please!" Richard pleaded with his captor. He had always had a soft spot for animals, every since his childhood at the circus. He would spend hours on end with the various animals used in the shows. Since he left the circus and obtained a new life, he hardly every had the time for pets and so barely interacted with them at all anymore...unless you counted Beast Boy of course.

"He's only a mangy mutt! You act as if I'm gonna shoot a person."

"It...doesn't make it right."

"Tell you what, I'll make you a deal," Richard 's head shot up at his opportunity to rescue the dog, unaware of the smirk hiding beneath the man's metal mask. He watched as Slade emptied the bullet from the gun and walked over to him, setting the gun in his hand and closing his fingers around it. "As long as you have the gun, I don't shoot the dog. As long as you have the gun, you must learn to dismantle, reassemble and properly use it. I'm not asking you to shoot any people, just learn how to use it. The moment you stop making progress, I will take the gun back and the dog is no longer safe, so I would take it seriously. Until then, he is your responsibility. While he is here, you will train him. Train him _well_. I want him to be obedient to a tee. Since you are not allowed to step foot outside the compound, Wintergreen will take him out, but other than that, you feed him. He is also not to wander the compound. Unless you are training him, he stays in your room. His fate is in your hands. Deal?"

"...deal..." Richard agreed, not being able to take his eyes off the gun his hands. The feel of it felt foreign against his skin and the weight of it unnatural. Slade promised he wouldn't have to shoot anyone, so if it would save the dog's life, then he would learn. He couldn't let the dog die, just due to his stubbornness. Even if he was just a dog, his life still counted.

"Wise choice. Now get that thing out of here. I believe you have a lot of work to do." Richard nodded, leaving the room, gun in hand and dog in tow, making his way back to his room.

Wintergreen walked up to Slade, waiting until the boy was out of earshot, curious at the current events. He was surprised when Slade had asked him to find a dog and even more so when he was asked to put on the little act that he just performed. He hadn't questioned the man's motives, but instead did what he was told. He had known Slade long enough to know that there was a detailed plan behind everything, even something as strange as this.

"Remind me again why we are taking on pets?" Slade looked at his old friend, who knew was smiling beneath his mask. Wintergreen didn't need for Slade to remove the metal mask for him to know that.

"Richard still has this need to be a hero, so I gave him someone to save. I gave him a companion, which hopefully will give him something to hold onto. It will give him an out for his emotions, so hopefully he can be better focused on our training.

Slade's single eye narrowed as he continued on, "It will also give him something to control. Often times, those who feel to have lost complete control of themselves, seek out to gain control in something else, in one form or another, thus the training I've instructed for him to do. I wanted him to understand the workings of the gun, and now he is happily doing so with no complaints. The dog will serve his purpose until he is no longer needed. Then, I have plans for him and as I told Richard in the beginning, he would go through my training whether he liked it or not and I tend to make good on that promise."

"Well, I guess I should go take Richard some food for the animal."

Back in his room, Richard sat with his new dog. He couldn't believe that he had managed to convince Slade to spare the dog, nor did he believe that Slade was letting him keep him. Looking at the pooch, he wasn't sure what to do with him now that he had him. How did you go about training a dog? He tried to remember how the animal trainers in the circus had done it, but all he could really remember was them telling the animals to do something and they did it. He figured he should also come up with a name. He always thought that there should be meaning behind the name given to someone. For example, the name Robin was meaningful to him. It was what his mother had called him when he was little. She had said that when he performed, he reminded her of a little robin.

_My__little__robin._

That is what she had called him. His mother had always admired animals of all kinds. She said that each creature was beautiful in its own way and would tell him stories of the different animals that she had while growing up. She said that her family used to have a simple house out in the country and so she would always have animals. In fact, now that he thought about it, he remembered her telling him that her best friend growing up had been a dog named Ace. He looked at the mutt that lie next to him on his bed, patiently looking at him.

"So what do you think? You like the name Ace?"

The dog lifted its head, sticking its tongue out, as if he understood the question. Richard took this as a sign of agreement and patted the pup's head.

"It's settled then. Ace, I have a feeling you and I will be really good friends. Just wait until you meet the Titans, your gonna love them."

The thought of the other Titans made Richard frown. As if to sense the boy's distraught, Ace gave out a soft whine, laying his head in Richard's lap. The action made Richard smile. It was a nice change to have someone care and try and comfort you...even if it was just a dog.

"I know! How about I tell you about some of the adventures me and the rest of the Titans went on. Would you like that?"

Ace raised his head, barking and wagging his tail at the boys excitement. Richard laughed at Ace's excitement as well, patting the dog on his head again, causing Ace to lick his face.

"Haha! Alright, alright! Where should I begin? I guess the beginning would be the best place."

Richard continued to tell his new friend about all the times he had spent with the Titans, both the good and the bad, only stopping for the two of them to eat dinner that night. He hadn't talked so much in the entire time he had been there. It felt really good to have someone to talk to, someone that would listen to him without fear of being lectured or hit. It also made him miss home all that much more. Thinking about his friends tended to do that, but it also made his feel like he was closer to them. It made his feel less alone and more hopeful of either an escape or a rescue. Either way, being able to talk to someone about his time with his friends made it seem like he would see them again soon. Luckily Slade had left him alone for the rest of the day,. He supposed he did this to give Richard time to look over the gun, rather than to get to know the dog.

* * *

><p>If you think Slade is having a moment of niceness, think again! Don't forget to review! :)<p> 


	5. Never Mind, Forget It, Just A Memory

Disclaimer: What again?

AN: Just a quick thanks to my reviewers, I really appreciate it! Here's chapter 5! ENOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six: Never Mind, Forget It, Just Memory<strong>

†_**Slade's Hideout†**_

_As a night of patrol came to an end, Robin began to make his way back to where he had parked his bike. He was almost there as he heard a gunshot break through the peaceful night, followed by a woman crying out. Now on top of another building, he ran over towards where he heard the shot and the cry, to look down upon an alley. There he saw a woman knelt down before a man who held a gun to the woman's head, next to them, a trash bin and next to the trash bin laid a man, who, from the looks of it, had been shot in the head._

_Tears ran down the hysterical woman's face and she looked down at the man, then back to the one holding the gun. She raised her hands before then man, as if she were in prayer._

_"Please! I don't know anything, I swear!" She choked out._

_Immediately Robin jumped from his perch, right on top of the man that had held the gun. The two crashed onto the dirty, wet ground of the ally and began a quick struggle over the gun as Robin elbowed the man in the face forcing him to let go of the weapon, before hitting him once again in the head with the butt of the metal object. He slid the gun across the ground of the alley, getting it away from both himself and the man now laying unconscious on the ground._

_Robin got up, turning to look at the lady. "You alright ma'am..." His question was cut of by a sound at the other end of the alley._

_"Not too smart birdie! Just stay back!" another, smaller, nervous looking man said as he came out of the shadows, holding the very gun Robin had thrown in his direction._

'Shit! Where did he come from?'

_Robin then noticed what he had the gun aimed at. In front of him, he held onto a girl, no older than six with tears streaming down her face, his left hand held tightly over her mouth, keeping her quiet._

_Shit!_

_"Amy!"_

_Before Robin could blink, the lady that was standing next to him was gone, taking off towards the man and child, another yell, another shot, a cry and the shocked expression of man holding the gun, which suddenly fell the the floor. _

Richard awoke with a start. His clothes were drenched with sweat and his breathing was labored. He looked around at his surroundings, confused, forgetting where he was. It definitely wasn't his room back in Titan's Tower, yet it felt oddly familiar. A nudge on his hand forced him to look down. Memories of the past few weeks flooded his mind as his eyes met with the black dog beside his bed.

"It's okay, Ace." Richard sighed, patting the k-nine's head in reassurance. Whether it was him or the dog he was trying to comfort, he wasn't so sure. "It was only a dream."

It was only a half truth. It had beed a dream, but it was also a memory of an event from the night before Slade had shown up at the Tower. The memory only reinforced Slade's idea of killing. He knew he was right and that was hard to admit. In this his line of work, sometimes, people died. Sometimes it is your fault, whether it be directly or indirectly. Whether it be from loss of control, failure to complete a mission in time, or in his case, simple stupid mistakes.

Richard was pulled from his thoughts as Ace began to paw at his arm, trying to signal his master that it was time for breakfast. He got up, grabbing the bowl that had been given to him and went into the bathroom, where he was keeping the food, out of reach.

"Is this what you want?" He asked, setting the bowl of food on the ground. "That's a good boy."

Over the past few days he and Ace had become close. Richard was able to confide in the pooch all of his fears and doubts about his current situation, as well as his disappointments and tragedies of the past.

Ace on the other hand seemed to look up to Richard. He followed him around the compound when he was let out of his room for one reason or the other. The only place that he was not allowed to follow him to was the training room. Both Slade and Richard quickly learned that Ace was becoming protective. While attending his first sessions Ace had actually growled at Slade, threatening him for acting violently towards Richard. Slade immediately had Richard return him to his room.

Richard got back into bed, wondering how much time he had until Wintergreen came to wake him for the morning's training session. He had hoped it would be awhile. He felt like he hadn't been asleep for very long and was still extremely tired. He never could tell how long he would sleep for as there was no way to tell time while he was in here. He wasn't even sure if he was getting enough sleep or if his restless night were keeping him from getting the sleep he was allowed. He was sure that is was a little bit of both. There were some nights that he felt completely rested when we woke up and others we woke up feeling exhausted, as if he had only been asleep for an hour or two. Time in this place seemed have a time of its own. Sometimes, it would go on forever and creep by, seconds lasting into minutes and minutes into hours, other times, the exact opposite. Some days felt like they would never end, while others felt like they flew by. Richard chalked it all up to no clock and the activities of the day. Sometimes, _time_ was one of the things that he missed the most. The lack of time was a major factor that made his feel completely isolated and alone.

†_**Titan's Tower†**_

Having Batman around the tower for the past week gave the Titans an insight into Robin and his personality. Though the two may have their differences, the similarities between them were obvious. Just like Robin, the majority of the Bat's time was spent working. When he was in the tower he could be found either glued to a computer screen or nose stuck pages among pages of research and files. When he went out, he left without a word and would be gone almost the entire night. He hardly slept and was always serious. While Robin new how to have fun every now and then, Batman didn't seem to be the kind of person to ever really just enjoy himself. They could easily imagine Batman as the man that Robin would grow up into, if he continued down the road that he was on.

Cyborg walked down one of the many halls of Titan's Tower, in search of one of the research rooms that the Bat had practically moved into. If the Bat was in the tower, this is where he would be found. Finding the door open, he softly knocked on the frame out of courtesy, announcing his presence. He was sure the man that was sitting at the computer desk, along with piles of folders next to him heard him coming long before he arrived.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have been curious if you had found anything."

Without waiting for a reply, Cyborg stepped into the room, less intimidated than he had been upon the Dark Knight's arrival. Grabbing a nearby chair and pulling it over towards the desk, Cyborg sat, looking the man over, wondering when the last time he slept was. He guessed it had been awhile, having only returned from patrol a few hours ago and was still working.

The Batman may seem cold and distant, but from working with Robin, he could tell that the man was worried. The more something bothered Robin, the more he would throw himself into his work, letting it consume him. He assumed, by watching him, that Batman was the same way. It made him wonder what had happened between the two and why Robin left. He could definitely see the two bumping heads, both being stubborn and supposedly knowing everything. Both always having to be right. But would it be so bad that Robin would feel the need to leave? It made him wonder just how close the two had been and what led to the teaming up of Batman and Robin. Things he had never given much thought to until now.

"Actually I have. None of the lowlifes in this town seemed to know very much about Slade. The ones that knew of him or even worked for him, didn't have much to offer up."

"Are you sure they were telling the truth? Maybe they covering up for him."

"They were."

Cyborg wasn't sure if he had wanted to know how Batman knew that the criminals he encountered were telling him the truth. He had seen Robin try and extract information from criminals and it was never a pretty sight, having to even be restrained a time or two. If Batman had been the one to teach Robin everything that he knew, then he was sure Batman's techniques were similar, if not much more elaborate.

"Slade seems to have just shown up out of nowhere," Batman continued, "Staying out of sight and out of the way of other criminals, only making an appearance when it suited him. He came just as mysteriously as he disappeared."

"But you did find something out? How?"

"By accident really. I found his son."

"Slade has a son?" This was something that Cyborg found hard to imagine and it caught him off guard. Slade with kids? He didn't seem like a family man. He definitely couldn't imagine him being father of the year.

"Two actually...well, had two. His eldest son Grant is deceased. From what I found, he was the first one that Slade had tried to train to follow in his footsteps. His younger son, I believe, is a friend of yours."

A friend? Cyborg tried to think of the people he knew, friends that they had made and the people that they could have met. No one that he could think of seemed to stick out in him mind as having a possible relation to Slade. Seeing the teen's confusion, Batman continued on.

"His name is Joseph Wilson, better known as Jericho."

"Jericho? Are you sure?" Batman nodded, positive of what he had told the teen. Cyborg couldn't believe what he had just heard. Jericho was the son of Slade. It didn't seem possible. The two were as different as night and day. Jericho was perhaps one of the nicest and most peaceful kids that they had met. Slade on the other hand...well, Slade was Slade. Period.

"At first he acted as if he knew nothing, but once I mentioned Robin's disappearance, he told me what he knew about him. I've gathered everything in that file, as well as further research I've done."

Cyborg looked down at the file in his hands and opened it, reading along to as Batman told him a few of the details. He wasn't sure how Batman had found Jericho, or even how he figured out family relation, but at this point, it didn't really matter.

"His name is Slade Wilson, ex-military. He has increased strength, durability and agility due to a voluntary military experiment."

_No wonder it seemed like we could never keep up with him._

In the file Cyborg read of Slade's complete military history, records no doubt stolen from secret military files. His conquers as a villain. He also read of his personal history. He had been married, now divorced. His first son died, his cause of death unknown. He read of the accident with Joseph, which resulted in his throat being cut and him becoming mute, information most likely gathered from Jericho himself.

_Yup, father of the freaking year._

The information presented to him was a lot to take in. Before him was not just a maniac turned villain. Before him was the life and career of Slade. The man had been going, creating a legend since he was 16 years old, when he lied to get into the military. This new information made Cyborg uneasy.

"Any idea where they may be?" Cyborg asked, closing the folder. No matter how much information may be in it and no matter how detailed it may be, it did not tell him where Slade was hiding Robin.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think that they are in Jump City. If they were, _something_would have popped up by now."

"What about Jericho? Is he going to help us?"

"He will be there to give us any information that he can give. Any questions that we have, he will do his best to answer, but no, he is not coming and I don't blame him. His father has had enough involvement in his life."

Cyborg couldn't blame the kid as well. He knew more than anyone what the man was capable of and so he knew to stay away. Besides, having Jericho's involvement in the case may only anger Slade, or put Jericho in more danger than necessary. No need for him to turn into a target.

"I should go share this with the rest of the Titans." Cyborg motioned to the file.

Without a reply Batman returned to the computer as Cyborg got up and left the room, in search of the other Titans. At least they were starting to get somewhere.

†_**Slade's Hideout†**_

That morning Richard woke before Wintergreen came into the room, feeling refreshed. He felt that he had been sleeping for awhile and wondered what time it was. He usually woke up to the sound of Wintergreen unlocking and opening his door, but not this morning. This morning he woke on his own, making him wonder if he really had just slept really well, or if Wintergreen had been running late. Having no clock or concept of time in this place made it hard to tell.

A whine alerted him to Ace, who was sitting at his bedside, head resting on the bed. Richard could tell the dog was hungry and immediately got up to get him some food. He wasn't sure why, but it felt nice to care for someone else. He liked the responsibility. It made his feel needed and useful. Ace wagged his tail as the food was set down in front of him before happily chowing down. Richard couldn't help but watch the dog enjoy himself.

_At least someone is happy._

Before long, Wintergreen showed up as he did every morning with breakfast and a clean pair of clothes. When he was finished eating and getting ready he followed the older man out of the room and down the hallway. Minutes later he walked into the training room, just as he had been doing for several mornings now. It had become a routine since he had come to Slade's hideout, where ever it may be, to come and train with Slade every morning. The two would often spar, with Slade giving Richard instruction throughout the session. Sometimes it would be just hand to hand combat, while there had been a couple of mornings he was given his bo staff. Slade had thought it important for him to continue to learn how to use weapons that he was already familiar with, as to have something to build on.

"Today we will be doing something a little different. First I want to see what you've learned, to make sure that you have been doing as you've instructed."

Slade led Richard over to a small table that was sitting against the wall. On it, Richard noticed several small metal pieces, which he recognized as the gun from his room...or so he thought.

"How did you get this? It was just in my room?

Slade let out a small chuckle, amused at the boy's confusion and naïvety. For such a brilliant lad, he sure did have a lot of simple moments. Richard looked at the man, as if to question what had been so funny.

"I'm a mercenary, you really think I only have one gun? Or that I would give that only gun to _you?_"

Slade did have a point. Richard ignored the remark and grabbed the pieces of the dismantled gun, knowing what Slade had wanted him to do. Within moments he had the handgun completely assembled, much to Slade's satisfaction.

"Good. Very, very good! I see you have been doing your homework, as promised." Slade said, pulling out another two more similar looking handguns, one of which he gave to Richard, taking the now assembled gun away from him and setting it back on the table.

"Now for the training. The guns that we have right now don't shoot bullets, but rather metal pellets, similar to your standard bee-bee pellet. They aren't lethal, but I warn you, it will hurt like Hell if you get shot. It's you against me, whoever gets the most hits in, wins. This will teach you how to both fire at an opponent during battle, as well as how _not_ to get hit."

Richard looked at the loaded gun that sat in his hands, shaking his head. There was no way he could shoot it, even if it wasn't real. The fact that it was supposed to emulate the real thing, left him feeling uneasy.

"I can't do this, you said I wouldn't have to shoot anyone."

"Technically this isn't a real gun and I figured you'd _want_ to shoot me. Besides, I said I wouldn't _make_ you shoot someone. By the time you do that, it will be of your own will."

"Then it won't happen," Richard said confidently.

"We'll see," Slade said as he delivered a swift kick to the teens stomach, causing him to double over before knocking his legs out from under him.

"Don't ever let your guard down." Slade chided. "That's one rule even that Bat should have taught you. You're letting the idea of the gun distract you. You should always be ready, no matter the situation. Now, get up."

Richard slowly stood up, as Slade slowly raised his gun as him. His eyes widened as he dodged, just in time for Slade's gun had gone off, missing Richard by millimeters.

"That's more like it. Good," Slade commended, moving in towards the younger boy. While Slade had his gun down, Richard saw his chance, charging the older man, fist aimed at toward the black and orange metal mask. Catching the fist, mere inches from his face, Slade twisted it back behind the teens back and pushing him forward. He aimed his gun once again, only this time catching Richard before he got the chance to fully turn around as the pellet hit him in the shoulder.

Richard let out a surprised yelp and grabbed his shoulder where it felt as though the bullet had bitten him. Just as Slade promised, it stung like Hell and he wasn't sure if it had broken the skin, but he knew there was going to be a nasty bruise there, regardless.

"Now that looked like it stung! I know you want to get even. Go ahead, try and shoot me." Slade goaded, hoping to get the stubborn teen to give in. Unfortunately Richard had other plans. With a frustrated cry, he chunked the metal gun at Slade, hitting him square in the forehead, catching him off guard.

"Forfeiting your weapon? Not wise, boy. But if that's how you want to play, I can definitely oblige."

For a moment, Richard regretted his decision, wishing he still had the weapon as Slade quickly advanced on him. He got into a fighting stance, refusing to back down and Slade got closer, within feet of him. Next thing he knew Slade's fist was flying towards his head, which he quickly dodged, coming back around to kick Slade in the side, making him stumble just a bit. He was about to mentally congratulate himself when Slade righted himself, grabbing the front of his shirt, making the back of his hand hit him all the more easy. He didn't even have time to recover as Slade's fist made contact with his stomach, sending him reeling back and to his knees.

As he sat there, kneeling, trying to catch his breathe, a metal object came into focus in front of his face. He looked up to see Slade offering his gun back to him, giving him a second chance. His shot at redemption. Richard stared at the shiny object, contemplating what he should do.

He wasn't sure if it was his morals that were still in tact, or whether it was the mix of adrenaline and anger that coursed through his veins, but Richard knocked the gun from Slade's hands. He watched, wide eyed at his actions, as the guns slid across the floor.

Slade reached his hand down and placed it below the boys chin, tilting his head up to look at him hitting him. With his other hand he backhanded Richard with the butt of his gun.

"You're pathetic sometimes, you know that? No wonder Batman was so worried about you. He was probably afraid that you were too dumb to save yourself. I bet he got tired of coming to you're rescue."

Richard wiped away the blood that trickled from his cheek, getting to his feet. He looked from the gun that he had knocked across the floor, then back to Slade, who stood there, watching the teen.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't I?" Slade challenged. "I know exactly what I am talking about. I know he controlled what missions you got to go on and which ones you didn't. If he thought them to be too dangerous, you were sent home like a child not old enough to hear what the grown-ups have to say. I know he managed almost every moment of your life. I know how he wanted to keep you from being Robin in the first place and I know how he had even threatened to take away that title from you after years of dedication."

Richard didn't know what to say. He couldn't argue, as everything the man had said was true. As much as he hated to admit it, Slade was right. It was the way Slade had said everything. It made him feel like Batman had controlled him, just as Slade did now. He knew the two situations were different, he just didn't know how to tell that to Slade. Through words they sounded like mirrors of each other, but through experience, Richard knew it wasn't right.

"Face it Richard. The man brainwashed you, made you into the person you are today, he was just sneakier about it that I am. Unlike him, I'm telling you upfront who you are to become and my intentions. He had an idea of who he wanted you to become and when he felt that you weren't living up to those expectations, he tried to rip your life away from you."

"It wasn't like that...things were different." Whether he was trying to convince Slade or himself, he wasn't sure.

_No. They were different. Of course they were. Like night and day._

"Were they? What about the fact that he hid things from you?"

"You haven't exactly been honest with me either."

Slade walked over to Richard, making his take a step back. He was sure that Slade was about to strike him for his comment when he began to raise his hand. Instead, he carefully lifted it to his face, wiping some of the blood from his cheek with his thumb. The action made Richard flinch away from the hand.

"I've got some business to attend to. Someone to meet about your future. In the meantime I'll leave you to your thoughts. You need to decide whether your recent actions are going to be worth it."

With that, Slade walked out of the room, leaving Richard alone and the gun still on the floor.

* * *

><p>Please review and keep reading! It would make my cats very happy :)<p> 


	6. Fragment of Joy Torn Apart

Disclaimer: Chapter six and I still own nothing. Sucks huh?

A/N: Quick warning before we start, I've started my first semester of graduate school and so updates won't be as frequent as before. It just depends on my classes, but I should still get a chapter up a week :)

ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven: Fragments of Joy Torn Apart<strong>

_**†Slade's Hideout†**_

When Slade left him alone he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing. Slade hadn't left him with any instructions, but rather just up and left the room. And so he simply stayed there, waiting for something to happen. He had expected for Wintergreen to come for him and take him back to him room, or give him instructions for something, but as he sat there, on the floor, waiting, no body came. Twenty minutes must have gone by, though he couldn't really tell, as he realized that the old man wasn't going to show.

Richard looked over towards the open door. Expecting someone to show up. Surely Slade wasn't going to just leave him here with the door open. If Slade was going to be away, there was no one to stop him from escaping. What would be keeping him here? He knew for a fact that Neither of the other two me trusted him enough to leave him alone like this. Actually, not that he thought about it, even if Wintergreen was here, there was no way that the man would be able to stop him.

Getting up, Richard walked over to the door, cautiously peering into the hall. Slade may be away, but that didn't mean what he was planning wasn't dangerous. He stepped into the hall, turning right. This was it, he was going to find a way out of here before Slade got back. He only got a few feet when he realized he couldn't leave. At least, not yet. Doing a 180 degree turn, Richard walked down the opposite end of the hallway, back towards his room, reaching for the door. The steel door was shut, but it was not locked. There was no reason for it to be.

"Ace, come."

Ace got up from where he was laying on the bed, hopping down and following Richard out of the room. The two now walked down the hall, past the two locked doors and past the two hallways that Richard knew led to the training room and the dining area where he ate his lunch and dinner, usually with Slade for company. It was times such as that Richard was thankful for Ace, as it gave him someone else to focus on during mealtime. He had even managed to sneak him a few bites of food here and there. In reality, he was sure that Slade knew what he was doing, but he liked to pretend that he had gotten away with something. Even if it was something small, it felt good to be able to slip something past the man.

Richard arrived to the end of the hallway with two options. Right or left. Suddenly, he heard a door open as he hid against the wall, waiting a moment before peering down around the corner and down the left side of the hallway. He saw wintergreen leaving one room, book in hand and disappearing behind another door nearby.

Curious as to where the old man had just come from, Richard quickly walked down the hall with Ace closely behind him. He ducked inside the room that Wintergreen had just come from, noticing shelves of books and a couple of tables with papers on them. It appeared to be a mix of a small library and a small research papers and folders that sat on the table, scattered, appeared to be files of some sort, the type that Richard couldn't help but peek at.

On the papers he saw chemical equations and formulas that were unfamiliar to him. The compounds were unlike any he had seen before. He also found files on memory suppression and hallucinogens. He would need to be sure to take these with him and try and study them, figure out what Slade was up to and if it had anything to do with him. Something told him that it did.

Grabbing the files, Richard made his way out of the room, heading down the hallway, making sure to skip the door he had seen Wintergreen go into. A he came upon a single door he carefully turned the knob, not knowing what was waiting of him on the other side. It could be freedom, or it be a trap. Instead of seeing a way out, he saw a simple room. In the middle of the room was a king size be, covered in red sheets and two nightstands on either side. Along the right wall a dresser with a few familiar metal orange and black masks on top of it. Slade's bedroom.

The realization made Richard feel uneasy. Perhaps it was because a bedroom signified that Slade was human after all and the fact that any human could be so cold and heartless as he had known Slade to be didn't seem possible. The thought of Slade being just another human being irked him. It almost did not seem possible. Sure he had faced many bad guys in the past, some of which were down right nasty. Heck, he had faced the Joker on many occasions, as well as Scarecrow, Two Face, and Mr. Freeze just to name a few. But there was one thing that those guys had in common that set them apart from Slade. They all had a screw loose somewhere and were to some degree mentally unstable, especially the Joker. He was the kind of man that would set the world on fire just to watch it burn to the ground. Slade on the other hand wouldn't waste his time unless there was something that would rise from the ashes. Unlike the other villains that Richard had fought, Slade was undeniably sane. Too sane. He knew exactly what he was doing and why. Everything had a purpose. He was calculating and determined. He was dangerous on an entirely different playing field.

Richard quickly shut the door, not wanting to enter Slade's quarters. That was one part of Slade he would rather be kept a mystery. He looked down at Ace, who sat next to him on the floor, looking at him patiently. He patted the dog's head before heading back down the hallway to the other side. At the end was another door, the last door that he would come to. He turned the door knob, surprised that it was not locked, yet disappointed to see another room with no escape.

He entered the dark room, which was lit only by several monitors stacked on top of one another. In front of them sat an empty desk and a chair. On the monitors Richard could see different areas of the compound, including the training room, the hallway, dining room and his room. He had known there to be cameras in the hallway, suspected they were in the training room and the dining room, but didn't think there was any in his room. He had searched the place from top to bottom, looking for a camera only to find nothing. Obviously, somewhere, somehow there was one, watching him at all hours. On other monitors he saw what he suspected was just outside of the compound, which didn't surprise him. What surprised him were the images on the computer of areas that looked almost like Gotham. Then there were images of both Jump City and Titan's Tower, inside and out. Upon the screens were all the different aspects of his life.

_Talk about being a stalker!_

There was one in particular that he couldn't tear his eyes away from. Right in the middle was a monitor the common room within Titan's Tower. What he saw on this screen made him happier than he had been in a long time. It disproved almost everything that Slade had been saying to him. Batman did care. On the center monitor was Batman, in Titan's Tower, talking to the Titans themselves. Behind him, Slade's profile was pulled up on the main computer. It didn't matter that he was unable to find an exit. They were coming for him, it was just a matter of time. Moments later, the screen switched to show another room within the Tower, the video feed seemingly on a rotation.

"What do you think your doing in here!"

Startled, Richard turned to the door way to see Slade walking into the room, looking very displeased. He took a few steps back at the sight of the man coming towards him, only stopping once he hit the table in front of the monitors. Ace quickly jumped to his side, growling protectively.

"Slade. I...I was just..."

"You were just _what?_" Slade cut him off. "Spit it out!"

"You left the door open so I figured..." Richard looked around the room for an escape, finding none. "I thought maybe I was free to roam."

"You're smarter than that! Don't insult me by playing stupid. You've been here long enough to know where you are supposed to remain. I give you the smallest amount of confidence in you and you can't even handle that."

It was then that Slade noticed the files in Richards hands, the ones he was holding down by his side, near Ace. He knew those files and where they had come from. Knowing that Richard had gone snooping through them only raised his anger.

"Not only do you betray the little faith that I put into you, but you have the nerve to steal from me as well?"

Richard looked at the files in his hand as he raised them a bit. He had been caught red handed. There was definitely no denying it, there was no trying to hide it. There was no place for him to turn, no way out. Not knowing what else to do, Richard threw the papers at Slade, who let them hit him in the chest before fluttering to the floor.

"Memory suppression? Hallucinogens? Brainwashing compounds? What the Hell were those files for? What were you trying to do to me?"

By this point Richard was shouting, not even bothering to his his anger and frustration. Truth was, those files had scared him.

"At the moment, those files are none of your concern..."

"None of my concern?" This time, it was Richard, still shouting, who cut Slade off. "Those were about me, weren't they? What are you planning?"

"You've done nothing but let me down this past week," Slade ignored the questions given to him and continued on, "Did you treat Batman with this much disrespect? No wonder he just let you run off to Jump on your own. He was probably hoping that you would never come back!"

Richard only shook his head, refusing to believe Slade anymore. Ace looked between the two shouting males before growling once again at Slade, bearing his teeth, ready to attack if needed.

"Leave him out of this! I'm sick of you putting him down and trying to fill my head with nonsense and lies! Stop it. Just stop! I saw on the screen," Richard pointed to the monitor, which turned to reveal the meeting in the common room as if on cue. He lowered his voice as he continued on. "He's in Jump right now, looking for me."

"Then perhaps it's time to stop fooling around and get down to business. Wintergreen," Slade called for the man, who immediately walked into the room, standing right behind Slade. "Restrain the mutt and load my gun." Wintergreen nodded, sticking a leash on the animal. Ace obediently walked away with him.

Richard watched the older man take the dog out of the room. Alarmed, he tried to get around Slade, who only grabbed him arm, holding him back.

"Wait! Where are you going with him? What are you going to do?"

"Never mind that, its time you stopped asking so many questions. The dog is no longer your responsibility."

"No, you can't!"

Slade grabbed hold of Richard's other arm, pushing the thrashing boy out of the monitoring room and into the hallway. There, Richard could see Wintergreen walk Ace towards the training room. He heard the door slam behind them, shutting Ace inside. He mind went into panic mode as his friend was locked away, for what could be that last he would ever see of him. He had let him down. He had failed once again and now someone else was going to pay for his mistakes. He couldn't let that happen. His mind raced as he tried to think of a way to make it all stop and rewind what was happening.

'Please don't! Don't hurt him! It's not his fault! I'll do whatever you want!"

"You'll do it anyway."

"He was only following me! It's not his fault!"

Slade continued their path down the hallway, past the room that Ace was taken into, practicality having to drag Richard at this point.

"Then I guess it is something that you are going to have to learn to live with!"

The two arrived at Richard's room, where the steel door remained open. Quickly and roughly, Slade tossed the boy in, against the wall and onto his bed. By the time the teen situated himself into a sitting position, getting ready to pounce off the bed and towards Slade, the door slammed shut and the lock was put into place. Immediately, he jumped off the bed and threw himself against the door, pounding his fists against it desperately.

"SLADE! YOU SON OF A BITCH! LET HIM GO! ACE! ACE!"

Richard continued to call out the dog's name, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. Emotion began to over run him as guilt welled up inside of him. This was all his fault. Just like the night in the alley. He was to be the cause of another death. Though he may only be a dog, he was his only friend. He relied as much on the dog, as the dog relied on him. He was the only one who would be there to listen to him. He didn't know what he would do with out him.

Hot tears began to run down the boy's face as he slid to the ground, his loud cried fading away into whimpering soft sobs. Suddenly the knowledge that Batman and the Titans were working together to come to his rescue didn't seem as comforting as it did only minutes before. He could feel as the small hope and joy he had upon seeing them working together on the monitors slowing slipped away. No matter how quickly they found him, they wouldn't get here in time. Not in time for Ace anyway.

"Please don't...it's not his fault..."

* * *

><p>Short and cliff hanger, I know I'm sorry, but I had to. Please keep coming back and don't forget to review!<p>

Clicky! You know you want to! ;)

V

V

V


	7. Like a Bed of Roses, There's a Dozen

Disclaimer: *bang*

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who is sticking with this! :) ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight: Like a Bed of Roses, There's a Dozen Reasons in This Gun<strong>

†_**Titan's Tower†**_

"Hey y'all, turns out there was a report of a robbery over at S.T.A.R. Labs early this morning."

The team was all huddled in the common room, getting ready to head out to scour the city for leads, just as hey had done everyday since the day their leader had disappeared. The search was becoming redundant, still yielding no leads. They had even began to investigate happenings in the nearby cities, expanding their search. They were pretty sure that Slade and Robin were not longer within the city limits, but where should they start to look form here? With no leads it was like finding a needle in a haystack, a very big haystack.

The teens began to try and come up with ideas of where they could have gone to, someplace that would make sense for them to be hiding. So far, they had not been able to think of too many plausible places and with such a big world out there, there wasn't anywhere they could start. At the moment, their best bet was to keep searching their city, the expanded crime scene, for any type of clue that would lead them else where. They're only other option was to begin a random search of the country.

"We should probably look into that while we are out," Cyborg mentioned, while going over the plan for today, which really wasn't much different from the days and weeks before.

"Any idea who is it behind it?" Raven questioned.

"Looks like our friend Professor Chang ran out of Xenothium and went looking for a way to restock his supplies," Cyborg answered.

"Was he not already in jail for the stealing of the Xenothium? Did he escape again?"

Cyborg looked at the alien princess and shrugged, giving her a short and simple answer.

"He made bail."

"I didn't think that Chang had that kind of dough."

"He doesn't. Someone bailed him out." the Dark Knight said as he walked into the room, answering Beast Boy's question. "The question is, who bailed him out and why. Xenothium is rare, powerful stuff and it doesn't come cheap. Someone must have needed it pretty badly. It just so happens there is a generous supply here in Jump. S.T.A.R. Labs has been using it to power some of the tests that they have been running on some meta-humans. It's a highly unstable, dangerous chemical..."

"We know, it's what Robin used to power his Red X suit."

Batman looked at Cyborg curiously, silently making an agreement with the teen to get the details of that event later on.

"You guys go inspect the scene over at S.T.A.R. Labs. I'm going to go see what I can get out of Chang."

There was no arguing. The team had learned that when Batman gave an order, you followed it. They had also learned that he was usually right about things, one reason they figured, why Robin hated so much to be wrong. Perhaps, in a subconscious way, he was trying to prove that he was just as good as his old mentor. One thing was for sure, Robin definitely had big shoes to fill.

**††**

By the time that night fell, Batman's search lead his to Jump City's warehouse district, where there were plenty of places for Chang to set up shop. It didn't take long for him to locate the mad scientist's laboratory. Inside the man was busily scribbling formula's on a piece of paper, a chalk board filled with more equations and parts to machines scattered throughout the room.

Chang hadn't even noticed his presence. Like most criminals, he was oblivious to the Bat that loomed in the dark. It wasn't until a dark shadow fell over the older man did he stop his writing and look up and behind him. The sudden sight of the enormous man towering above him made him jump in his own skin. He twirled around, grabbing his heart out of surprise.

"Ah! He never said I'd have to deal with you!" Change said to himself, before continuing on, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Don't you have any manners? It's rude, you know, to sneak up on an old man. Could give me a heart attack."

Professor Chang went back to his work, ignoring the man standing behind him.

"Where is your Xenothium?"

"I don't know why everyone comes to me for the stuff, instead of just stealing it themselves. You'll have to find your own, I've already gotten rid of my supply." The scientist said, waving his hand over his shoulder in a "shooing" motion.

"Who bailed you out of jail? Was it the same person you're supplying the Xenothium Ore to?"

"What do you think I am? A tattle-tale or something?"

Tonight, Batman's patience was very thin. It was not the night to be messing with him. In annoyance, he grabbed the old man by the shoulder, roughly turning him around and lifting him up by the collar of his HEV suit, throwing him against the wall, not letting go.

"Who is buy it?" Batman growled at the man in front of him. Chang however, failed to be intimidated. Instead, the man only began to chuckle to himself, reminded of another amusing scene.

"Now, this seems familiar! I can see where your little bird boy got his attitude from."

Batman, still holding onto the collar of the HEV suit, tossed Chang into another nearby wall, throwing his fist into the concrete, only millimeters away from the older man's head. Startled, Professor Chang eyed the fist.

"Alright, alright," the man gave in, calmly pushing Batman's hand off of his suit and dusting himself off. "It's being shipped out of here and to a place in Gotham. I don't have an address, as the actual shipment was picked up by some assistant, rather than going through the post or some shipping company. It's cleaner this way."

"Who bought it?"

"Some guy out there, goes by the name of Hugo Strange. Knowing that I specialize in Xenothium Ore, he came to me, needing it for some experiment he was working on."

"Go on," Batman ordered, narrowing his eye into the infamous bat-glare. Professor Chang continued with what he knew.

"He came to me asking if I could get my hands on some for him, even bailed me out of jail. Was bragging about being hired by some new guy in Gotham...a real 'top dog'...he had called him. I was paid very generously. When I mentioned the Teen Titans, he assured me that very soon they would no longer be a concern and that I wouldn't have to worry about them interfering with the deal. 'Preoccupied', he had said they were. He never mentioned you, though."

Having the information that he needed, Batman turned from Chang, walking towards the exit.

"Aren't you going to take me to jail?" The old man questioned. He had, after all, expected for the Bat to arrest him, not let him go free. Batman stopped at the man's question.

"I can do more to you out here," he turned to the man, who still stood up against the wall, "It's easier to extract information when there aren't cops hanging around."

Batman turned once again and headed out, leaving the older man to go back to his work.

**_†_Slade's Hideout†**

The next morning Wintergreen came to retrieve Richard from his room. Opening the steel door, he found the boy sitting off to the side. He was lucky the door hadn't hit him when he had come in. His knees were brought up to his chest with his harms wrapped around them, making himself into a ball. His head was buried in his knees, having cried himself to sleep.

Wintergreen knelt down next to the child, putting his hand on his shoulder, softly shaking him awake. Richard carefully lifted his head as he opened his eyes, looking in Wintergreen's direction. Memories from the night before rushed back to him. Had he had any tears left to cry, they would have began to pour out. Instead Richard just sat there, looking at the older man, waiting for him to give him some sort of instruction on what he was to do from here. At this point he hardly cared.

"You're wanted in the training room."

"Good, I'd love the chance to beat the tar out of him."

Richard got up, ignoring the ache in his bones from sitting in the same position for so long. His muscles were already sore and his mind tired, but that did little to deter him from wanting to get some kind of vengeance.

He entered the training room, where Slade was already waiting for him. Just the sight of the man only made his anger grow. He wanted nothing more than to lash out at the man and make him pay for taking his friend away.

"Good morning. I trust you slept well."

Slade let out a chuckle, knowing full well the night the Richard had. Just one look at the kid and you could tell he had barely slept. His eyes were puffy and red and had bags under them. Not only was he able to witness it first hand, but his cries of mercy for the dog could be heard, echoing throughout the compound. Richard could only glare in response.

"Shall we try this again? Yesterday went so well, I wanted to give it another go."

It was then Richard noticed the gun that Slade had in his hand. It was the same one from that he had used from the day before...or rather, that he refused to use. Slade tossed the gun to Richard, who caught it out of reflex.

It only took a split second decision for Richard to raise the gun in anger, aiming it towards Slade. He pulled the trigger as Slade easily dodged it. He had to admit, having the gun the past week did make it more comfortable for him to handle. It felt more right in his hand than it had the first time he had picked one up. He may not have known how to aim it correctly, but that didn't stop him from trying.

"Now that's more like it!"

Fueled by his adrenaline, Richard took another shot at Slade, who manged to dodge it again. This only frustrated Richard even more, who fired round after round on the evasive villain, who dodged each one.

"Stop! Just hold still!" Richard shouted, taking aim once again.

His concentration set in as his finger squeezed the trigger for a final time. This time, the bullet came into contact with it's target, who did nothing in response but applaud the success. At last Richard was able to land a hit. Had it of been real bullets in the gun, the bullet would have went straight through Slade's ribs and right through his heart, effectively taking him out. But of course, they were only metal pellets, which bounced off of Slade's armor. He doubted that Slade had even felt the hit.

Having shot Slade with the fake bullets only made his anger rise, rather than relieve it as he had hoped. He threw the gun to the ground, the sound of the metal scraping along the floor echoed throughout the room as Richard tried to catch his breathe.

"You know, that shot would have been lethal, had I not been wearing armor and those had been actual bullets. Tell me, how does it feel to actually shoot someone?"

"I wish they would have been real, I would have loved to stop that cold heart of yours!"

"Harsh words for such a good little boy. I knew you had it in you," Slade said.

Richard could just imagine the smirk that he knew was hiding behind that metal mask.

"See, you've already used a gun against someone and threatened to kill. In fact, you've even shown regret for not being able to," Slade continued, "Tell me, who was the first person that you ever wanted to kill? The first person you've felt that extreme anger towards that would justify their life being taken from them?"

_Zucco..._

"And what stopped you from taking that life?"

_Batman..._

"Tell me, do you regret not being able to? Do you hate him for it?" Slade asked, as if he had been able to hear Richard's thoughts.

_Sometimes..._

"Of course not!" Richard shouted, surprised at his own out burst. He just didn't want Slade to think that had been right, that he had known those details of him.

"You see? You belong in this position." Slade tried to convince him. "Deep down, your really not much different than myself. You're arrogant, selfish, and egotistical. You're also highly skilled, brilliant, determined and goal oriented. You let nothing stand in the way of what you want. Not Batman and not the Titans. Face it, the hero business was not made for you."

"Why do you keep on saying telling me these things, as if it would suddenly change my mind? You think one of these times your going to say just the right thing to make me realize that this is where I belong? That this is really my destiny? Well, I have news for you, that isn't going to happen. There is nothing that you can say that would make me willingly following you."

"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter anyways. Soon enough your willingness won't be a factor. I told you, you will go through with this one way or another. It doesn't matter whether you want to or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have yet to let you down on that promise."

Richard had to admit that Slade was right. Everything that he had wanted him to do, he had done from the time he had first woken up here to this very moment. He may not have followed a long right away, but in the end, Slade got what he wanted.

"There is nothing that I have yet to fail to make you do, including shooting someone. Something you had been so against, something you even took an oath never to do. And having never shot a gun before, I have to admit that I am pretty proud of the way you handled yourself today. Good job."

In a disgusting way it felt nice for Slade to actually praise him, even if it was for something such as this. He hated the feeling too. Hating what he had done in a fit of anger, hating for still wanting to murder the man and hating himself for letting Slade commend him on a job well done.

_What is wrong with me?_

'Well, I have a meeting with someone soon. Its time that you got back to your room. Wintergreen will escort you, as you proved yesterday you can't be trusted to go on your own."

Slade walked past the boy, who only stood there, knowing there was nothing that he could do or say that would make any difference to the man. The moment that Slade exited the door way, Wintergreen entered, as if he had been waiting outside the room the whole time, just waiting for the two to finish.

Silently and lost in thought, Richard followed him back to his room. He couldn't seem to shake the thought that he had actually fired a gun at someone from him. Slade had been right. When the time came, he wouldn't force him to do it, he would do it of his own free will. He wondered if Slade had that planned all along.

Wintergreen opened the metal door that led into his room as he stepped inside. The sight that greeted him was unexpected and unbelievable. There, sitting on his bed, was Ace, wagging his tail at the sight of him, as if nothing had happened.

A million emotions came to him as Wintergreen shut the steel door behind him, locking it back into place. Richard made his way over to the bed, speechless, sitting on it and wrapping his arms around the dog, who only licked his face in response. Happiness and relief welled up inside of him, making him think that his heart would burst. To see that Ace was alive and well was overwhelming as tears threatened to fall from his eyes and the hurt of losing his friend hit him all over again.

His anger for Slade also grew for making him go through all of that for nothing.

_**†****Titan's Tower†**_

Cyborg was in the common room of the tower filing what little the found out at the scene of S.T.A.R. Labs. The lights were off, the glow of the computer screen glowing, illuminating the cybernetic teen. About half of their supply of Xenothium Ore had been stolen and their only lead was that the heist was pulled of by Professor Chang. Whoever it was that bailed him out of jail must have been desperate to get the unstable chemical.

Batman entered the room to find the teen still awake. He had to hand it to the kids. They were very dedicated and were really giving everything that they had to find Robin. Cyborg especially seemed to have taken his upgraded leadership role very seriously. He was up at all hours of the night, doing research, filing anything they had gotten, which wasn't much. He wouldn't be surprised if the teen got as little sleep as he did.

"I've got a lead," he said, finally announcing his presence.

Cyborg stopped typing on the computer to turn around. Letting his human eye adjust to looking at something other than a computer screen, he saw Batman standing only feet from him. He didn't know how long he had been there and was sure that even if he hadn't been preoccupied with his latest entries, he wouldn't have heard the man approach. That was another thing that he and Robin had in common. They both had the ability to be completely invisible when they wanted to and could sneak up to just about anything.

"Did you find Chang?"

Batman nodded, silently answering his question before verbally filling him in on the rest of what he had learned.

"He is supplying the Xenothium to a scientist in Gotham named Dr. Hugo Strange. He is conducting an experiment for a new villain the the city. I have a feeling this new villain may be Slade. He gave some hints that whoever the experiment was for, had something to do with you guys."

"So you think that they're in Gotham?"

"I'm pretty sure, or at least its a good start."

Cyborg looked back at the screen, looking over the information that he had gathered before turning back to Batman.

"So why go through the trouble of bailing out Chang? Why not just steal it himself? Why go to another scientist."

"Chang is an expert in Xenothium. He would know just what to get, where to get it, how to transport it safely. The chemical is very unstable and very rare. Its better not to risk the chances of something happening to it."

"Why go to Gotham?"

"My guess was that Slade went to Dr. Strange. He has a reputation for creating these types of things, especially hallucinogens. I'm sure you've heard of, or at least read some of the files on Scarecrow? Much of his fear toxin is based on Strange's toxic creations."

Batman was sure that Strange was creating and experimenting with a new toxin that was meant for Robin. If Slade was truly looking to get Robin to work for him, controlling him chemically was the only sure way that it was going to happen. He knew Robin wasn't one to be easily talked into something.

"It also makes sense why Slade would leave the video message on the security footage when he captured him," he continued. "If something were to go down in Gotham I would need to be out of the picture. He probably knew that it was only a matter of time before I found out that he was missing and went looking for him. It's the perfect hiding place."

"Should I go wake up the team so we can head to Gotham?"

"No, I need you guys here to watch over Chang. I need to know if more Xenothium gets stolen and if Chang has anymore part in this. In the meantime, I'll head to Gotham and hunt down Slade."

Cyborg watched the man turn and leave the room, his cape fluttering behind him in a dramatic fashion. He knew there would be no arguing with the man, but also knew that he was going to hear it from his team in the morning. By then, Batman would be long gone.

_**†****Slade's Hideout†**_

"Slade will be back in a few minutes and wants us to meet him in the infirmary," Wintergreen said as he entered Richard's room to find him still sitting on the bed, talking to the dog. Ace had his head in his lap, enjoying the feel of the hand running over his head.

"We have an infirmary?"

"Yes, and need I remind you of the consequences if you should refuse. You know that if you don't come with me, I'm going to have to go get Slade and he will just drag you to there himself. Trust me, it would be better if you just came or I can assure you that you will regret it afterwards."

"Wasn't dreaming of it." Richard said sarcastically as he stood up, knowing full well what would happen if he pulled an attitude. This time, Ace may not be so lucky and he knew he would end up in the infirmary anyway, whether cause Slade got him to go, or he was there being treated for injuries acquired from Slade for not going.

He followed Wintergreen into the hallway, coming to the normally locked door on the left, which also happened to be the closest one to his room. He wasn't sure if it was a coincidence for the infirmary to be located so close to him or if Slade had planned for it to be so useful that it would have to be close by.

Wintergreen led him into the room, where there was only a small bed and a counter with several medical tools, among them several vials, some needles and some gauze. He motioned for Richard to sit on the bed, to which he complied. Seconds later, Slade entered the room as Wintergreen began to put on latex gloves.

"What's this all about?" Richard asked.

"Nothing too big, I just need a blood sample," Slade answered as Wintergreen grabbed his left arm, tying a tourniquet around it. He then began to clean the inside of his elbow with a alcohol wipe. The action made Richard nervous. If it had anything to do with the files he found in the study yesterday, he did not want to have anything to do with it.

"What's if for?" He asked cautiously as he started to pull his arm away as Wintergreen grabbed a vial and a needle that was laying on the counter.

"Hold still," Slade commanded, grabbing Richard's wrist and holding it steady. "You know this is going to happen one way or another. Trust me, you don't want me to sedate you."

No, he definitely didn't want to be sedated. Who knows what could happen if he were unconscious too long. He didn't want to think about it, not with knowing the type of information he had found in the folders yesterday. Just the thought made he want to tear out of the room and find an escape. He was trying to get his emotions under control, knowing that his body was wanting to get ready for a fight or flight reaction if need be.

Wintergreen inserted the needle into Richard's vein, connecting the small vial, allowing blood to begin flowing into it. Watching the red liquid spill out of him made him nauseous. By the time they were done, the old man had taken five small vials of blood from him, probably just over a pint. Definitely more than just a sample. The process ended, leaving him feeling drained and a bit dizzy. Wintergreen took care of the tools used and then took the vials of blood out of the room. He returned moments later with an orange and a glass of water giving them to Richard.

"The rest of the day is yours. I would suggest you work on your aim," Slade said, his tone clearly of amusement.

Richard could only glare at the man as he peeled the skin off of his orange, still sitting on the small bed.

"I've got a meeting to go to and will most likely be gone for the rest of the day."

"Another meeting? I thought you had one yesterday?" Richard questioned.

It's not like he cared that Slade was going to be gone. On one hand, he saw it as a good thing. The less that he saw of the man the better. On the other hand, with everything that was going on, the files that he found along with the blood that was just drawn, he was a bit afraid of who Slade was going to meet. He knew that it had to do with him and he knew he wouldn't like the outcome.

Rather than answering, Slade took one look at the kid that sat on the table before walking out of the room, leaving Richard alone with Wintergreen. Richard looked at the older man that was packing up the last of the medical supplies that lay out, making sure to stick everything back in it's rightful place.

"Who does he keep going of to meet?"

"I'm sorry, It's..."

"...not my place to tell you that. I know, I know." Richard hopped off the bed, sighing. The old man never told him anything. Whenever he had a question that had anything to do about something other than what he was supposed to be doing at that moment, he was refused an answer. Honestly, it was starting to get on his nerves. How was he supposed to learn anything if Slade wouldn't tell him and Wintergreen refused to open up?

* * *

><p>You know what to do! :)<p> 


	8. The Wreckage of a Job Well Done

**A/N:** Welcome back! I feel like its been a long time, even though its only been a week. Originally this next chapter was supposed to be pretty short, but I combined it with chapter 9 to make a pretty decent sized one you you. My longest chapter yet, at over 6k words :) ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nine: The Wreckage of a Job Well Done<strong>

†_**Titan's Tower†**_

"Robin's in Gotham? Why aren't we already leaving to go find him?" Beast Boy asked, looking up to the temporary leader of the group.

"Batman wants us to stay here, to keep an eye on Chang." Cyborg responded, trying to keep the green changeling calm. The group of teens had gathered for a meeting shortly after Batman had departed, leaving behind a none too happy Cyborg.

"But surely we would be more useful in Gotham than here. If Robin needs us, we should be there for him, not staying home." The four looked at Starfire who was hovering above the ground with a worried expression on her face. They all nodded in complete agreement. Not one of them wanted to be in Jump, knowing that Robin was in Gotham.

"Then why are we still here? Who cares if Batman said to stay here, Cyborg is in charge here, not Batman. Robin is no longer a part of his team, he's apart of ours now. It is our responsibility to make sure that he comes home safe."

"You know what Rae? I think you're right, what are we still doing here?" Cyborg questioned. She was right, Robin was their responsibility now, and against Batman's orders, they should be looking for him, not sitting back and waiting for someone else find him. "Maybe we do need to be in Gotham, at least some of us."

"So who gets to stay and who gets to go?" Beast boy questioned.

"I think that it would be best if its just me and Rae. I've heard rumors about Gotham and its an ugly place. Its not like here." Cyborg said.

"Please I do not mind if it is not as pretty as here, I would like to go."

"No, Star, what I mean is that Gotham is different as it has a reputation to feed on crime and corruption. The insane run the streets, causing mayhem on a daily basis. Terror and violence ooze out of every alley way." Cyborg explained, watching the alien girl float back to the ground in disappointment. He had heard enough rumors about Gotham, not just from Robin, but rumors that everyone grows up knowing. Rumors that told him that Gotham was a very dangerous city and they knew that they would be encountering some dangerous criminals to try and find their friend.

In Cyborg's eyes, he and Raven were the most mature and the most fit to go into the depths of Gotham City. As much faith as he put in his friends abilities, he didn't think that they would be the best choices to send to Gotham. They were much too innocent. Who knew what they would find when they actually found him. If it was bad, he didn't want them to witness it. He was leader, so he had a duty to go and he knew that whatever was to come, Raven would be able to handle it. She was more than ready to face Gotham than any of them.

"Great," Beast Boy pouted, folding his arms across his chest, a frown spread across is his face, "what are we supposed to do while you guys are off running around Gotham and we are stuck here?"

"I want you two to keep and eye on Chang, try to get as much information as you can. If he gets more instructions from this Hugo Strange guy, then I want to know about it the moment that it happens," Cyborg said in his authoritative voice.

"Fine," Beast Boy walked away from the group and over to the couch. Turning into a dog, he hopped up on the sofa, laying down, and hung his head over the sign in a sure sign of disappointment. Cyborg turned to Raven, who simply stood there, taking the plan in.

"Can you be ready in fifteen minutes?" Raven looked at her mechanical friend, nodding before wordlessly walking out of the room to grab the few necessities that she would need while in Gotham.

"We'll find him guys, so don't worry about that. You just concentrate on keeping an eye on Change and watching the city. If you need us, we'll only a phone call away. I'm gonna go warm up the car." Cyborg left the room, leaving the two remaining Titans alone in the common room of the tower.

Hope was becoming to be a hard thing to find recently, but with the news of Dr. Hugo Strange and the probability of Slade having taken Robin to Gotham, a sliver of hope was able to reappear. They had a lead, which meant that Robin had a chance. They had a chance at getting their friend back. They had a chance at getting their leader back and a chance for things to go back to normal. They were just sorry that it took them so long to do so. It had already been a little over a month since the Titan with the traffic light uniform was taken from them. All they wanted now was to be able to apologize to that traffic light in person for letting him be held captive by Slade for so long.

Within minutes, Raven had met Cyborg at the T-Car and the two prepared for the long journey to Gotham CIty.

†_**Slade's Hideout†**_

Richard sat in the training room of Slade's compound, sitting on the ground, stretching, getting ready to busy himself with several exercises. He was still a bit week from having so much blood taken from him, but he needed to occupy himself. He was given the option to either go back to him room or go the the training room to work. Of course he chose the latter, tired of being locked in the tiny little room.

Ace watched the boy intently, following his every move. Over the past couple of weeks the two really had become close, having no body else to rely on. Having thought that Ace was dead once already, made Richard hold onto and treasure the life of his only friend even more. Without him, he wasn't so sure if he would have been able hold up as well as he thought he was doing. The dog gave him someone to confide in when he was feeling lonely or even afraid, though he would never admit that to anyone else. Ace also gave Richard something to vent his frustrations out on. Whenever he was feeling angry towards Slade or frustrated due to his situation, he would train the dog. He had to admit that it did feel good to teach someone something and have them follow your every command. He liked having that control over something. He liked It actually almost made him feel like a leader again, even if his leadership was only over a dog. At least it was something.

There had also been times when Richard felt desperate and hopeless, making him cry into the dog as he wrapped his arms around his neck. He knew that Slade was probably watching, but he would just pretend that he wasn't and he would pretend that he was back at home, instead of his confining room. In a way, the act made him feel even more week and at times and he almost resented the dog for holding him back. If the dog hadn't of shown up, he wouldn't need to worry about its safety and he could concentrate more on escaping out of here. If it wasn't for Ace, his last little investigation of the place would not have been his last and Slade's punishment for it would not have been as bad. At least that is what he told himself.

These thoughts made Richard feel guilty and ashamed. This wasn't Ace's fault and he knew it. He looked over at the dog, who still sat by the wall, just watching him. Knowing that the animal was innocent in all this didn't help the feeling of resentment that he felt for him.

He noticed the dog's ears perk up before it got up, heading over to him, nuzzling his hand, wanting to be petted. Richard couldn't help but smile at this as his thoughts washed away from him. The boy stood up, getting into a sprinting position.

"I'll race ya!" The boy said as he took off down towards the other side of the room, dog in tow. Richard took a sharp right when he reached the wall as he continued to jog around the room. Just being active always helped him to feel better. It was as if with every step that he took, his emotions drained from him and everything didn't seem as bad as it truly was.

He didn't get very far before out of nowhere he was hit with a spell of dizziness, no doubt a result of the blood loss. Richard stopped, leaning against the wall only to slide down it to sit on the floor once again. His shaky hand found its way to his head as he tried to clear the exhaustion from his mind. Exercise was apparently going to be out for a bit.

He looked around the room, trying to decide what he should do to keep himself occupied. Other than him and Ace, all that was in the room was the table with one of the guns sitting on it. Richard looked away in disgust.

_Psh...work on my aim..._

Looking over at the gun, temptation growing within him. He had already willingly shot it once. It was something that he couldn't take back. He already broke his code of morals, so whats the difference if he should do it again.

_If I learned, I could at least defeat Slade in a sparring session..._

_Be nice to beat him at something..._

_And its not like anybody is watching..._

Richard tried to rationalize to himself. A part of him did want to pick the gun back up and learn how to aim properly. Next time Slade pulled another stunt on him like he had this morning with the target practice, using his own emotions against him, it would be nice to be ready for it. Get something accomplished. Even if Slade barely even felt them, it would be nice to show the bastard up.

_Somebody needs too..._

Richard got up from his position on the floor, walking past Ace and over to the gun. He picked it up, inspecting the metal object carefully. He had to admit, the cold weight in his hands felt good, almost made him feel like he had some power. Like he should be the one in control of things. Is this how criminals felt when they held a gun? Is that why they think that they can pull of the crimes that they commit?

_Doesn't make it right..._

The gun was loaded. He could tell just by the slight difference in weight from the one that he was practicing dismantling and reassembling. Richard checked anyway, just to make sure that it was loaded with the tiny metal pellets, rather than actual bullets. He could see Slade switching them out just to mess with him. He always _was_ two steps ahead of him, no matter which road he took.

_That bastard._

Just the simple thought of the man trying to trick him again made him angry and fueled his need to just shoot off the gun. He looked around the room once again, this time looking for something to aim at. As before the room was completely empty. Not even any spots on the wall to aim at.

Then an idea came to him. Walking over to the far wall, standing only a few feet away, he pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. A loud pop erupted from the gun, echoing around the room against the silence, making Richard flinch. When he returned his gaze to the wall, he was rewarded with a nice little mark.

He took a few steps back, centering himself in the middle of the room. His objective: to shoot the gun and get as close to the mark as he possibly can.

Lifting the gun, he closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath, before opening them again. His fingers squeezed the trigger and the gun went off again. He didn't remember the gun being so loud the first couple of times they were used, but then again, we wasn't alone those times. Each time before he had something to distract him.

Glancing to see where the bullet had landed, he noticed that he was way off. He heard a wine off in the distance and scanned the room to find its source. He found it coming from Ace, who was sitting at the door, cautiously looking back at him. He obviously did not like the sound of the gun.

"It's ok Ace...its not gonna hurt you," Richard said calmly. Rather than going to calm the dog, he simply raised the gun again, attempting to correct his aim.

With another pull of the trigger, he glanced at the wall. This time to find that he over corrected and was not way off on the other side of the mark.

For a third time he pulled the gun up to re-aim, again correcting his position. His fingers gently squeezed the trigger...

_ARF! ARF!_

The sound of Ace's bark almost made Richard drop his gun and really made him miss his target, even more so than the previous shots. This one managed to hit the ceiling.

"Ace! Quiet!" Richard commanded the dog, frustrated. He held his gun up once more, taking aim...

ARF! ARF! ARF!

"ACE!" Richard yelled at the dog, turing to face him, anger clear on his face. He didn't have the time nor the patience for this right now. He needed to be able to concentrate and in order to do that he needed silence. "Knock it off! Now! Bad dog!"

The dog whined, whimpering as he laid down and put his head on the floor. He looked pathetic, betrayed, like a child who had just been put in a time out. Richard felt bad for yelling at the dog and he knew he shouldn't have. He had never gotten on to him before and he knew he was rather harsh about it. It may have been the the stress and pressure of living in this place, being held hostage and trained by Slade or even the resentment that he had been feeling towards the dog earlier that had made him lash out. He couldn't help it, but sometimes he let his temper get the better of him. Something he would have to work on later.

Ignoring his guilt, he continued on with his practice. He wasn't sure how long Slade would be gone, but he planned on trying to get in as much time as he could. It had been a while since he had felt this driven, this determined. It felt good to have something to work towards, even if it was something he was always against. Next time, Slade wasn't going to have it so easy, he would make sure of it.

†_**Gotham†**_

It was early evening when Cyborg and Raven pulled into the parking lot of the Gotham Motel. It was a small, rundown motel that stood on the edge of Gotham. It may not have been the best of places to stay, but it served its purpose. The wanted somewhere not too far into Gotham, hoping that it would be further away from where Batman may roam. The last thing that they wanted was to be spotted and sent home. The teens weren't sure if they were being paranoid or cautious, but either way, they wanted to stay out of sight.

Once checked in the two set up base in the room that they were given. Cyborg quickly had a computer set up, where he began to hack into the police data base, stealing any file related to a Dr. Hugo Strange. He found it much harder to do than the police data base in Jump City. Probably due to the high level and sophistication of the criminal activity here. Jump City didn't need to be so guarded with their technology. The criminals there wouldn't have been able to hack into the one that was already in place...well, aside from Slade that is. He was sure that there where few system that he couldn't get into if he really wanted to. When the man wanted something, very little was able to stand in his way and he usually got what he wanted. Robin was proof of that.

Raven, on the other hand, took to meditating, hovering about the double bed that she had claimed as her own. If they were to spend the night doing research and hunting down Slade and Robin, then she would need to gather all of the energy and focus that she could. She needed the energy to stay active all night and the focus to control her emotions as they did so, especially if they were to run into Slade. She wasn't sure what she would do when they caught up to the man. She wanted to make the man pay for everything that he had done to her friend. Murder him, send him into the deepest depths of Hell and let Trigon torture him until the end of time. What she wanted to do to him and what she would do to him were two totally different things. The demon side of her wanted her to get revenge. This was the very reason it was so important for her be able to control her emotions. Her powers were linked with them and if she lost control of the emotions that raged within her, she would lose control of her powers and ultimately herself. She had no worries about that happening. She had been taught to control her emotion from an early age and have been doing so since. She was in perfect control and knew that things wouldn't get out of hand, no matter how bad they had gotten. Still, it never hurt to be prepared and plan ahead.

The two stayed like this for the next few hours, well into night fall. By then Cyborg had come up with a list of people that they should go should begin to find. People that they needed to talk to. People and villains that had at one point in time crossed paths with the Dr. Strange. Conveniently, the majority of these people cold be found at Arkham Asylum. That was the good news. The bad news, it was Arkham Asylum. The place was legendary for housing some of the world's most insane villains. The place was dangerous and the guards themselves were often known to be corrupt, . The place was a festering sore on the face of Gotham.

The two made their way up the steps of the old asylum and into the main room. The place was gloomy and the two teens could just feel the darkness illuminating from the walls. They walked up to the caged window against the back wall, where a butch looking receptionist sat at her desk. She eye the two, giving them a look up and down, taking in their appearance.

"Checking in, I presume?" The lady chuckled at her own joke. Her name tag read "Millie".

"We need to question to a few of your inmates." Raven's statement made Millie burst out laughing. She laughed as if she hadn't laughed in a long time. At least they could brighten up the place.

"Look ma'am, we are the Teen Titans, from Jump City and are on important business," Cyborg tried to explain. Millie called her laughter down to a slight chuckled.

"I think I may recognize the two of you, but if your here on cape business, then you need to take that up with Batman. He is the only one outside of _specific _Arkham employees that is granted access beyond these doors, let a lone access to patients. He'll have all the information that anybody here could give you anyways, he's been here like three times in the past few days."

Raven and Cyborg looked at one another. It seems that Batman had the same idea they had and was way a head of them.

"Well what about staff members? Do you know if he talked to any staff members?" Raven asked Millie, who sat back in her chair folding her arms across her chest, staring down the two teens.

"He came and he talked to everybody who he possibly could and then some. There isn't one person he let get through without some kind of interrogation. I'm not sure what's going on, but it must be big, as many times as he's come through here...I didn't think the guy could get anymore serious."

"Look, we really need to get in there. Batman doesn't know that we are in the City and I rather it stay that way." Cyborg tried to explain.

"Well, then you're on your own. There is absolutely no way that I can let you go beyond this point. Sorry kids, there is nothing that I can do."

That was it. Defeated, the two teens took leave, bidding Millie a "thank you and take care" and walking out the door and down the steps.

"So what now?" Raven asked as her and Cyborg got back into the T-Car and headed down Arkham Lane.

"I've got another idea. Strange used to be a professor at Gotham University, so I think that should be our next stop. Hopefully someone there can give us some information on it. Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until morning, as school's out. For now, I think we should head down to Crime Alley and ask around. It's either that or to wonder around aimlessly."

"Still almost sounds like wondering," Raven stated bluntly.

"Yea, but its all we've got to go on."

†_**Slade's Hideout†**_

The next morning Richard headed toward the training room where he knew Slade would be waiting, just like every morning before hand. The night before he had been practicing his aim, with a gun. An idea that he still was trying to get used. Just as Slade had told him to. Not because he was told to, let's just make that clear now, but because he didn't want to get beat by Slade again.

Once there, he saw Slade standing over by the table, which contained a bo staff and a gun. The bo staff he recognized, but not as being his. It was the one that Slade usually used and so he knew wasn't going to be using it. That only left the gun. Out of instinct, the thought made Richard uneasy, but he knew that this is what he had been practicing for. He spent hours the day before on target practice. He was much better than he had been during their last one on one, not that he was anywhere near perfect. He knew he had a long way to go until he would become and expert marksman. He would have been crazy to think that he would have been so successful after only one night.

Richard paused in his thoughts, caught off guard. He didn't know when he started to think this way. In his mind, he shouldn't be planning on becoming an expert marksman or having perfect aim. His only concern should be to become good enough to stand a chance against Slade. It should have just been a small goal for him to work towards, not a long plan for the future.

He was brought from his thoughts as a figure cast a shadow over him. Looking up, Richard saw Slade standing there, simply holding the gun out at him, not saying a word. In his other hand, he held the bo staff at his side. He took hold of the gun, finding the weight of the object familiar. It was both comforting and confusing, disturbing even. To think that the gun, a forbidden object, would give him so much comfort. Something he had always been taught to fear and be above, he had now sunk down to. In a way he was learning to become fear, on an entirely different level than he had been taught. An entirely different level than Batman was. He did not like the thought of being comfortable with a gun, nor did he like the thought of resorting to the weapon. At this point, though, he saw little choice to gain any ground in any other area.

Without speaking, Slade walked a few feet away, nodding towards Richard, signaling that the session had begun. Richard wasn't sure when he and Slade began to communicate without using words. The two didn't need to exchange verbal words in order to exchange thoughts and intentions. In a way, it reminded him of how he and Batman used to be. The two of them could carry on a silent conversation, relying to one another any message that was needed.

Richard lifted the gun, carefully aiming as he had the night before. He sucked in a shaky breath before allowing his finger to gently squeeze the trigger. Of course he had missed Slade, but this time, it was due to his lack of quickness, rather than his lack of accurate aim. He knew that if Slade had not of moved from his spot, he would have hit him. He would need to learn to aim and fire quicker if he wanted to land a shot and he would need to learn how to do so now.

Once again he pulled the gun up and squeezed the trigger, aiming for Slade who was currently making his way across the room at top speed.

Richard realized that not only would he need to be quicker, but he would have to anticipate Slade's moves. He would need to know where Slade was going to be seconds before he was there.

This time, he found Slade running diagonally across the room. Again, Richard raised the gun, aiming a bit ahead of where Slade was headed and pulled the trigger. He missed. That was three shots now, but he felt that he was headed in the right direction.

Richard refocused on his surroundings in time for Slade to appear right in front of him, slamming the bo staff into the side of his head, knocking him to the floor. As he tried to get back up he was stopped as he felt the end of Slade's bo staff jab him in the back, right between the shoulder blades, forcing him back down to the floor. He could feel the tip of the bo staff stabbing him in the back painfully, squishing him against the cold concrete floor.

"You're letting the gun distract you again. You need to be more focused. In the field, you won't have time to sit and think things through. You are going to need to learn to act on instinct and split second decisions if you are to, not only be successful, but to stay alive. Your opponent isn't going to sit back and wait for you to come up with a plan on how to catch them."

"Give me a break! This is new for me!"

In response, Slade dug the bo staff further into Richard's back, earning a stifled groan from the boy.

"That's not good enough." Slade said as he removed the bo staff from the teen's back.

Richard slowly rose to his hand and knees as Slade kicked him in the ribs, knocking him back down again, causing him to roll a few feet away before walking back over to the other side of the room.

Cautiously, Richard stood, holding his side where he had been kicked. He picked up the gun that had been dropped during the kick, breathing deeply.

"Let's try this again," Slade said and began to run towards Richard in a full oncoming attack.

Even more determined than before, Richard quickly pulled the gun in front of him, firing defensively at the man rushing towards him, missing. Slade swung a fist towards Richard's face who narrowly missed it, ducking out of the way at the last moment only to rise back up. Before he knew it the gun was aimed and firing once again. This time, he landed a hit. The bullet like pellet hit Slade right in the shoulder.

"Good. You're learning to listen. A close range shot like that could have cause a lot of damage had it been real...even I almost felt it."

Slade went on to continue his hand to hand combat with the boy, who only struggled to keep up. He knew that Slade was still holding out on him. He knew that had Slade been operating at full capacity, he would have been taken out quickly and he wouldn't of been able to land a hit so easily...not that it was easy mind you.

Richard swung his fist forward, giving up on only trying to avoid Slade, but rather trying to get a hit in of his own. Slade easily dodged the hit, ducking below it and kicking Richard's legs out from under him, knocking him to the ground, this time on his back.

As before, Slade trapped him with his bo staff, only this time digging the end into the middle of the boy's ribs. Richard grabbed the end of the bo staff with both hands, still holding the gun, trying to relieve some of the pain that it caused against his chest.

"You still move and think too slow. You need to know when to put the gun up and when it should be out for use. In hand to hand combat, your gun will only slow you down as you need both hands to fight with."

_Split second decision._

Richard quickly drew his gun up and pulled the trigger from his position on the ground. If he had time to celebrate he would have rejoiced and danced around the room as the metal pellet flew from his gun and went straight for Slade, hitting him in the middle of his forehead in a perfect headshot, knocking the man back a foot. The metal mask cracked down the middle as half of it fell away, revealing white hair, a grey eye and a white goatee. The face that featured these had an expression of fury on it.

At first, this terrified Richard. He wasn't sure what Slade's reaction would be to this. Sure he hit him and that was the objective, but Slade was in the middle of a lecture and was known to have a short temper. He knew that Slade would either be pissed for being interrupted and knocking off part of his mask or proud of him for getting such a shot in.

In an instant, Richard took in his surroundings and the realization of what had just happened hit him full on. Adrenaline pumped through his veins even more than before as his fight or flight reaction took charge. In this case fight won over flight and Richard quickly moved to swing a low kick, knocking Slade off of his feet.

Richard quickly got to his feet and stood over, straddling, the half-masked man that was now lying on his back on the ground. His gun was pointed down, directly aimed at the face of his opponent.

What Slade did next caught Richard off guard. The man brought up his hand, slowing clapping a few times before he removed the other side of the mask. This revealed a mirror image of the first sight, with an added eyepatch. This was his first sight of the man behind the mask. The face he had tried to reveal since Slade first showed up in Jump City. He had finally succeeded. Not only was he able to catch the man off guard and one up him, but he unmasked him. Two major accomplishments that were achieved in a matter of seconds. As much as he hated to admit it, the gun really came in handy here. Without it, this moment wouldn't have been possible. He couldn't help but enjoy the pride that flowed through him at the moment.

"Seems I underestimated you. When you really put your mind to something, do you see what you can accomplish? How much further you've come since you arrived?"

Richard only stood there, gun still pointed at Slade's face, a look of determination on his face. His heart continued to pumped at excessive speed and he couldn't stop his whole body from trembling just a bit, something he chalked up to the adrenaline rush.

Slade raised himself up on his elbows, his face becoming only inches from the barrel of the gun before lifting his right hand and grasping the gun. At first Richard's only reaction was to continue to look Slade in the eye, holding on tighter to the metal object.

Slade tugged at the gun, narrowing his eyes, silently communicating with Richard once again. This time, he sent out a warning to the boy, who immediately picked up on it. Richard carefully let go of the gun, stepping to the side of Slade, allowing the man to stand up.

"I feel like today we have definitely hit a wall of no return," Slade said, smiling over at the boy. "Enjoy the rest of your evening, you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."

"Why what happens tomorrow?" Robin asked, curious.

"Try to think of it as the first day of the rest of your life," Slade answered.

Richard didn't like that answer. If something big was happening, chances are he was not going to like it and it would not end well for him. Whenever Slade got excited about something, it only served as an early warning sign that danger and disaster awaited him in the future. He watched as the man grabbed the gun and the bo staff before exiting the room, leaving him alone. He was only there a few moments, thinking over the events that had just taken place when Wintergreen appeared in the doorway, but did nothing. Confused, Richard raised an eyebrow in the older man's direction.

"I am simply supposed to keep an eye on you. Make sure you don't do anything rash," Wintergreen answered his unasked question.

"Do you know what Slade has planned for me tomorrow?" Robin asked, curious.

"I'm sorry. All I can tell you is that tomorrow will be a defining day in your life. That is the only hint that I can give you. Other than that, its not my place to say anything." Wintergreen answered.

"Is there anything that you _can _tell me? Slade keeps you on a pretty short lease."

"No, I chose not to interfere more than is asked of me. I have not been commanded to do anything and Slade does not have me do anything that I do not wish." Wintergreen countered.

"Actually, I think for once I just want to go back to my room, if that is ok."

The older man nodded, leading him out of the room and back down the hallway toward wear his room was kept. Normally, he would give anything to be out of the small, confining space, but at the moment, he yearned for the comfort of the small room. He felt that he needed to take some time to digest all of the events that had just happened, as well as try and predict what would be happening tomorrow. At this moment, he just wanted, needed, someone to talk to. He couldn't wait to get in his room and tell Ace everything that had happened during the training session. He was still a bit terrified, yet he was also happy and excited for finally unmasking the man that he had been after for several months now. Right now, he needed a friend and so he was thankful when Wintergreen closed and locked the door behind him, trapping him back inside.

* * *

><p>Please review! Its makes me ever so happy!<p> 


	9. Hey, Man, You Got The Time?

Disclaimer: Meow

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven: Hey, Man You Got The Time?<strong>

_**†****Gotham City†**_

"Who are we going to talk to once we are there? Anybody you specifically have in mind?" Raven asked as her and Cyborg drove downtown towards Gotham University.

"I think that we should talk to anybody that we can, especially colleagues of Strange who worked with him in the Psychiatry department. First stop should be the head of the department. I would think they would know the most about Strange. They would have to, I would think." Cyborg answered, coming to a stop light.

"Its hard to believe that he was a teacher. Looking at some of the files, his theories seem really out there. Not very scholarly work that you would want someone to pass onto their students. "

"Yea, he was very much into genetic engineering, and not for the greater good. He wanted to create monsters out of people, meta-humans. Artificially engineered men that could really cause some damage. That is why he was asked to leave the University. Most of the professors and staff there consider his to be just as crazy, if not crazier, than those he is supposed to treat."

"Well, whatever he's into, he's not the kind of person that I think we want to be involved with Slade, especially if Slade's goal is control like last time. Robin doesn't need anyone messing with his head anymore than Slade already has."

It was well known within the group that one of Slade's techniques was to play mind games with Robin. Ever since he had shown up in Jump City, Robin had slowly changed, become more focused and more serious, especially after the apprentice incident. At times, he hadn't seemed to fully recover from his that time spent with Slade several months ago.

Robin was known to have a lot of issues and easily be affected by things. They knew that he had issues with Gotham, issues with Batman, issues with Slade, with being told what to do, issues with trust and issues with secrecy. He was the kind of person that took everything in, internalizing it until it tore him down. Robin was able to stand up against the toughest villains, no problem, but often times the one he needed to be saved from was him self. He tended to take things way too seriously and blame himself for way more than he should. He took on everyone's responsibility and made it his own. Raven hated to think of what this ordeal would do to him down the road.

Before long, the two teens were parked on campus, in front of a building marked Psychology and Psychiatry. Their first stop would be the head of the department, Dr. Oliver Rivo, who also worked above Dr. Hugo Strange. His office was easy enough to find, thanks to a small directory on the wall when they first entered the building. The faculty offices were on the third floor. From there they used a second directory to locate Rivo's office. Room 3021.

They arrived at the office to find the door open and an elderly man, probably mid seventies, sitting at a desk, typing away at a computer. Raven knocked on the door frame, announcing their presence.

"Can I help you?" The old man asked, scooting his chair back away from his computer screen and turning to look at the two unfamiliar teens.

"Dr. Rivo? Oliver Rivo?" Raven asked, stepping into the office, followed by Cyborg.

"Yes, that's me. Is there something that I can do for you?" The man asked once again.

"My name is Raven and this is Cyborg. We are part of the a team from Jump City called the Teen Titans..."

"Yes, I believe I have heard of you kids before. Your team has quite the reputation," the doctor interrupted.

"Yes, well we were wondering if we can ask you a couple questions about an old colleague of yours."

"I can't promise anything, but I think I can try and answer your questions."

"Do you remember a Dr. Hugo Strange?" Cyborg asked.

"Yes, of course. Unfortunately he was a professor here several years ago. He was let go because of his theories over genetic engineering. He was trying to mutate the genes of humans, giving them super human strength by messing with the development of specific genes, in a way boosting them to allow the muscles to work overtime and grow larger than what the human body was already capable of doing. There was even talk of him experimenting and using test subjects while he was under our employment. Word has it he even managed to create some of these "monster men", but that was after we let him go."

"Do you know if anybody has heard form him recently? Its dire that we find him as soon as possible."

"If my hypothesis is correct, this has something to do with Robin," Dr. Rivo guessed. Raven and Cyborg couldn't help but feel surprised at both the suggestion and the bluntness of the statement.

"What do you know?" Raven asked.

"Nothing. Batman was here a few nights ago, I was working late when he showed up. He came around asking questions very similar to yours and if there is one thing that you two have in common with Batman, it's Robin. There is really no other reason I see that both your team and the Bat would be looking for the same person. That and the papers have recently begun to question the whereabouts of Robin. Gotham loves its gossip and when Robin disappeared and the reappeared in Jump City, the papers tried to keep tabs on him."

"So why answer our questions if you already spoke with Batman? Why not just tell us?" Cyborg asked, wondering why he was so willing to have the same conversation with them, unlike Millie back at Arkham Asylum.

"Well my guess, would be that you aren't working with him. I don't know why, as that would make the most sense if my previous conclusions are correct, which I am guessing they are by the lack of denial. If you were working with him, you wouldn't be here now, asking me questions that the Bat already asked himself. You would have known that we had spoken already," the old man explained to the two teens, who looked at him skeptically.

"I'm a doctor of Psychiatry, drawing conclusions and knowing behaviors is what I do." Dr. Rivo leaned back in his chair, raising his hands, letting the fingers intertwine just below his face, elbows resting on the arms of his chair, "My best advice to you two would be to go and talk to Dr. Viktoria Stölle. She is one of the few faculty members that was here during the time of Hugo Strange and she was always fascinated in his work. I know the two were, for some reason, somewhat friends while he was here. If anyone would know anything around here, it would be her. She should be in her office, room 3057."

"Thank you, we appreciate you giving us some of your time," Raven said.

"Of course, if you need anything else, I'll be around. Don't hesitate to stop by."

The two teens nodded towards the professor, telling him farewell before making their departure towards Dr. Viktoria Stölle's office, not knowing whether or not they would be able to get any answers form her.

_**†****Titans Tower†**_

"Man! We should have gone with them!" Beast Boy cried, falling over the back of the couch to lay on the cushions, right next to where Starfire was sitting, casually flipping through channels. She had been doing so all day. "The waiting is killing me and there is nothing going on here! Chang hasn't broken a single law since they left, crime isn't happening..."

"Is that not a good thing?" Star interrupted the green teen, confused as to why this would be a problem.

"Well, yea, but I'm bored! Nothing has happened since they left, I need something, _anything_ to do! We shouldn't have stayed behind. We would have been _way_ more useful over there than here."

Beast Boy was obviously getting frustrated from the lack of activity provided by both the city and the tower. Every since the other two titans had left, there had been no one for him to lay video games with. Starfire didn't quite understand the concept or purpose behind them, nor was she any good. He missed his gaming buddy, Cyborg. There was also no one for him to pick on and aggravate, as Starfire also failed to understand when she was being picked on or being made fun of, not it a mean way of course, but rather the way two friends would try and push each other's buttons just for the fun of it. Starfire took things too light heartedly and always saw the positive in situations for it to work. It was hard, but he had to admit it, he even missed Raven.

"Perhaps you are correct. There is a part of me that wishes that we would have gone and helped out," Starfire agreed, making Beast Boy's ears perk, only for a second, "but another part of me thinks that Cyborg is also correct. If something further happens with Dr. Chang, then it would not do us any good if no one was here. Someone should be here, just in case. Robin would not want us to leave the city." Starfire finished, disappointing the boy. With lack of interest, she turned off the television and set the remote down next to her on the couch, opposite side of Beast Boy.

Just as Beast Boy was about to protest, the alarm started to blaze through the tower, showering the two teens in a flashing red light. The information of what caused the alarm appeared on the main screen of the common room, telling of a robbery being held at one of Jump City's many museums by the villain Red X.

"Aww man! Not him!" Beast Boy cried in annoyance and frustration.

"Are you not happy to have something to do now?" Starfire asked as her friend hopped off the couch and the two headed towards the door.

"No, of course not. I was just complaining for the sake of complaining, not cause I wanted to work, especially not against Red X!" Beast Boy's continued complaining could be heard as the two rushed down the hallway and disappeared into the outside as they made their way to stop Red X from stealing whatever Jump City's Museum of Art had to offer him.

†_**Gotham City†**_

Raven and Cyborg arrived at room 3057. Just as Dr. Rivo's, Dr. Stölle's door was open, suggesting that perhaps it was University policy for professors in their office should have their door open to students. The lady in the office sat cross legged in her computer chair as she read a book, stopping every so often to scribble notes down into a notebook. She was probably late thirties, meaning she must have been in her twenties when she worked with Dr. Strange. Young and impressionable. Her brown hair was up in a ponytail and thick framed glasses sat on her face.

Once again Raven knocked on the frame of the door, announcing their presence. The girl in the chair looked up, closing her book as she took in the site of the two.

"Can I help you?" She asked, a German accent evident in her voice.

"Dr. Stölle, am I right?" Raven asked.

"Yes, zat is me."

"We heard you used to work closely with Dr. Strange and was wondering if we can ask you a few questions about him, shouldn't take too long." Cyborg said, stepping into the small office, which was cluttered with various papers and books on psychiatric genetics and psychoanalytic theories. Dr. Stölle uncrossed her legs, setting her feet on the ground, her posture straightening at the mention of the familiar name.

"Ja, but I haf not seen him in a long time."

"Do you have any idea where he might be? Or anyone who would know where his whereabouts would be?" Cyborg asked the lady.

"Nein. avter he vas...let go...vee barely spoke. I tried to keep in touch, but he vas okkupied viz ozer zings. Vee lost touch. I don't know anyvone who vould know vere he is. I'm sorry."

"Please, it's very important. Are you sure you have no idea what may have happened to him? Have you heard any rumors? We need him to help us find someone who may be in a lot of danger." Raven said, pleading for any kind of answers the doctor could give. Dr. Stölle bit her lip as she looked away.

"I heard he had a lab, somevere down around Grant Park, but zat vas sevral monzs ago. Zat is all I know. I promise."

Raven looked at Cyborg, the two silently agreeing that they weren't going to be getting any more from the lady, agreeing that she had nothing more to give.

"Thank you for your time, ma'am." Cyborg said, as he and Raven turned to leave. Next stop would be the district around Grant Park.

**_†_Slade's Hideout†**

Richard awoke to the sound of his door opening, just as he did almost every morning, yet something was off. This morning was different than all of the others. Today, Richard woke up feeling completely refreshed. He had gone to bed early the night before, for once being able to sleep in peace, rather than pass out from either exhaustion (mental, physical or emotional) or from being told to go to bed. What was so different about this morning though, was the fact that it was not Wintergreen who had gone to get him up and get him started for the day. Today, it was Slade that had woken him up, a new mask put securely into place, ordering him to get out of bed. Unlike the other mornings, there was no breakfast and no clean change of clothes. Good thing Ace woke him up some time earlier to be fed, cause Slade wasted no time ushering him out of the room.

Once out in the hallway he remembered that today was supposed to be a "big day" for him. Not knowing what that was or what was happening made him nervous.

"What's going on?" Richard asked.

"We are going to meet a friend of mine." Slade answered, as he grabbed Richard's right wrist and put a handcuff on it, quickly grabbing the left one before he could pull it away, securing them together behind his back.

"Hey! What gives! Get these off of me!" Richard cried, struggling against the metal around his wrists, to no avail.

"Calm down, they are just to ensure you don't run off...can't take any risks. I'll take them off once we get to where we are going." Slade said to the boy, leading him down the hallway.

"Wait, we're leaving?" Richard said, the realization causing him to stop his struggles.

"Yes, but we will be back." Slade promised.

The two walked to the end of the hallway, stopping next to the door way to the monitoring room. Slade pulled out a small remote from his belt, pressing a button as a small portion of the wall slid open to reveal a much larger room.

No wonder he couldn't find the doorway to this place. There wasn't one. The compound he had been calling home for who knows how long now was just an area built inside a much larger facility, with the only entrance being a fake wall.

Slade walked him over to a set of doors, real doors this time and led Richard outside. As they stepped out into the blackness, Richard immediately became confused. The first thing that he had notice was the night sky and the street lamps that lit the area.

"It's night time." The statement was simple and overly stated the obvious, but the realization that occurred was so much more. Not only did it serve to state Richards confusion, but it also implied Slade's control and just how out of touch with the outside world he was.

"Yes, we make time work for us. Our 'morning' is when we decide it is most useful, just like night. In our line of business, it is best to work at night and so we live by the night. There are also many times when this changes and we need to flop our schedule and as we are needed in the day time. By controlling our time, we control the world in which we live." Slade explained as he and Richard got into the backseat of the vehicle, which was waiting outside for them. Of course, Wintergreen was the driver.

"I'm not sure if you've been able to notice, as I haven't really given you any way to tell time, but the hours of your days and your nights have been strictly controlled. I've created your every moment and created every day that you were with me. Some days, I've given you more time, while others have been extremely short. Same with your sleep schedule. Some nights you were allowed 10 hours of sleep. Others you only got two. You've been training to work on various sporadic schedules. You need to teach your body to function the way you need it to function."

As the car drove down the many streets of the city Richard listened to Slade as he looked out the window. Within minutes he was able to come to another conclusion. Once he really began to pay attention to what what outside of his window, or rather what city was outside of his window, he turned back to Slade, blue eyes wide at the realization.

"Gotham. We're in Gotham." Again the obvious translated into so much more. In that simple statement Slade could hear confusion, fear, hope, shock and a hint of desperation.

"Observant," was all that Slade said, remaining silent and leaving Richard with his thoughts the rest of the way.

Richard couldn't believe that they had been in Gotham this whole time. Part of him felt like this was a good thing, as he was home, he was someplace familiar, but the other part of him reminded him that Batman was looking for him in Jump City, clear on the other side of the country. The realization that Slade had somehow led Batman as far away as he could to give him room to do...whatever it was that he was doing...without interference scared him and left him feeling hopeless. All the the comfort that he had, telling himself that not only were the Titans out looking for him, but Batman too, washed down the drain. They were looking in the wrong place and Slade was right. They wouldn't find him here. It was the last place that they would look. He didn't think it was possible to feel more alone than he had felt that past few weeks, months...how long _had_ it been? He felt more alone now than he had since the day his parents died, leaving him with no one to comfort him.

* * *

><p>So, I really like the way that this chapter turned out. The last bit with Robin was originally supposed to be part of chapter 10, but this one was really short and didn't include Robin at all, so I combined em a bit. Next chapter will be a bit shorter, I think around 2700 words, but I'll have it up sometime before Friday, hopefully.<p>

Please review! It lets me know that people are actually reading this and helps with motivation and they are fun!) ;) Also, let me know if you saw mistakes and they will be taken care of. TIll, next time!


	10. Your Final Days Are Near OMGOSH Chapter

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own the Titans :/

**A/N: **First thank you for all the lovely reviews and I need to respond to one in particular. E.S.: Thank you so much for the review, I really appreciate the feedback. I'm gonna go back through and try and fix some of those things and try and make them better. That kind of criticism is exactly what I like to hear :) Also, while I'm on it, I have to say thanks for sticking with this story! I've been wanting to respond to you for a while now lol

Anyways, everybody ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve: Your Final Days Are Near (aka the OMGOSH Chapter)<strong>

_**†Gotham Cyborg & Raven†**_

Cyborg and Raven headed south towards Old Gotham, where Grant Park was. They didn't really have much of a plan, other than to just start looking. Old Gotham was definitely different than other areas of gotham that they had encountered. In fact, it almost reminded them of Crime Alley. It was dark and gloomy, and just the kind of place you'd expect for something foul to take place.

The sun had already set by the time Cyborg parked his car in front of a building. It looked abandoned, but from the looks of things around this part of town, it was hard to tell what was being occupied and what was truly abandoned and shut down.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" Cyborg asked as he and Raven stepped out of the car. Raven stopped one her door was shut, giving Cyborg a confused look as he locked the doors, re-locking them just for safe measure.

"Who?" Raven asked.

"She didn't mean that," Cyborg said, as he patted his beloved car, giving Raven a 'how could you' glare. Raven could help but roll her eyes as she headed down the sidewalk, leaving Cyborg to fuss over the car.

"Hey, do you even know where you are going?" Cyborg asked, leaving the car and catching up to Raven.

"Nope."

"Ok, then."

The two continued to walk down the sidewalk in silence, unaware of the dark figure that watched them walk closer and closer. As the approached the upcoming alley way a voice startled them as it pierced through their silence.

"What are you doing here?"

The two turned towards the figure, both taking an offensive stance, Cyborg with his arm raised, just in case his cannon was needed and Raven hands, up, ready to throw up a forcefield if needed.

The figure stepped out of the shadows that kept it concealed, revealing the Dark Knight. Though the two had spent time with the man back at the tower while he was searching Jump City, somehow, out here in Gotham, in the dark, he was a much more terrifying figure. The two could only imagine how criminals who came across the man felt. This was one man you did not want after you.

"We're looking for Robin." Raven was the first one to speak, quickly getting over the shock of the man that stood before them.

"I told you to stay in Jump and look after Chang. You're not needed here. Go home."

"Starfire and Beast Boy are there now in case anything is needed, but we couldn't just stay there, knowing that Robin is here. I hate to say this, but he is our responsibility, he's part of our team now, not yours." Raven said.

"And we're not going anywhere. We came to find Robin and that is what we are going to do." Cyborg added.

"Then your looking in the wrong place, there is nothing down here." Batman told the two, walking back into the alley, expecting the two to follow him out of sight. The two teens looked at one another before taking a few steps into the shadows of the alley.

"We got a lead that Strange had a lab down here somewhere." Cyborg told the man that had stopped and turned back to face them.

"4653, on the corner of 14th street and Hush Avenue. The site was deserted months ago, Strange is no longer operating out of it. It's a dead end."

"Do you have anymore leads?" Cyborg asked. Batman narrowed his eyes, as if annoyed by the accusation. Didn't make it any less true, he just didn't like it being pointed out. He was _the Batman_ after all. He was supposed to be the one that had it all figured out. If anyone could solve this, it should have been him.

"No."

"Then it can't hurt to have us around." Raven quipped.

"Fine, but until this is all over, you stay with me and you do as I say. Get your things from your motel and meet me back here. I'm going to continue looking around for a bit, make sure I haven't missed anything." Batman ordered as he took out his grappling gun at shot it out towards the rooftop and swinging up towards it. The two teens watched him depart, leaving them standing there alone.

"We're going to stay with...Batman?" Raven asked, not sure whether this was a good thing or not. Cyborg on the other hand, definitely saw it as a good thing as a grin spread across his face.

"Think I should call B.B.?" He asked, looking down at the girl.

"Absolutely not!" Raven exclaimed, turning towards the metal teenager, ready to take any necessary action if needed. There was no way that their friend should no about this, not if they wanted to keep them stationed in Jump. "If he was to find out he'd freak."

"Yea! That's kinda the point! Make the little green bean jealous." Cyborg smiled evilly at the thought of the various reactions his friend would have. Beast Boy would surely hate him forever when he found out!

"Well, you're going to have to wait until we get back to rub it in his face. If you tell him, what do you think the chances of him leaving Jump and coming here would be? You know how irrational he gets when he's excited. You'd blow him into full fanboy mode."

Cyborg sighed in defeat, hating that fact that Raven was right. He would have to wait, no matter how hard it would be. At least it would be more satisfying to see his facial expression in real life, rather than over the vid-link.

"He would definitely be here within the hour..." Cyborg stated.

"Well, as fast as he could anyway." Raven corrected.

"Knowing B.B., he'd find a way, even if it meant creating a worm hole to hop across the country."

"Now you're starting to sound like him, which means its time to go." The two teens made their way back to the T-Car to go and grab the few things that they had brought with them, the few things that remained at the motel.

_**†Gotham - Richard†**_

They pulled up to a building that was hidden away in the Art District of Gotham city. You would never be able to tell from the outside that criminal activity was going on within. Richard's best guess was that they weren't using an abandoned building but rather renting it out. Less conspicuous than people seen going in and out of an abandoned building. Word would get out that something was going on there and eventually the police would come. Either that, or other criminals would try and over run the place and take it as their own. The latter was much more likely than the former had they of been in a bad area of Gotham, where crime spread like a disease. This side of town, was also not an area that he and Batman had ever patrolled on a regular basis. Only if there was a rumor or confirmation of a museum robbery going on. Otherwise, the area was pretty much left alone. This place must have been Slade's idea.

They walked into the building, entering into a reception area. Next to it was a hallway with a couple rooms off to the side. Slade led him into the first one on the left, which was set up almost like the infirmary back at the compound, only with more supplies and equipment. The sight sent chills into the boy's spine as he looked at the syringes and vials of liquid chemicals that were set out, the labels unrecognizable, and then to the IV drip that was set up. It was without a doubt all set up for him.

Flashes of the files he had gotten a hold of ran across his memory. Images of formulas and the words 'brainwashing' and 'hallucinogens' came to the forefront of his mind. He refused to believe that they had any connection at all and shook the thoughts from his mind as he continued to look around the room. There was a heart monitoring system that was up and running, along with another that he couldn't place. It was similar to the heart monitor, but the lines were different. Besides, there would be no need for two heart monitors.

Slade led the boy over to the medical bed that sat against the wall, removing the handcuffs and ushering him to sit down. Richard obeyed, more out of lack of knowing what else to do, than listening to Slade. An unfamiliar man came through the door that they had entered in from, reading something off a chart. He was about 5'10" and probably in his fifties. He was bald and had a chin curtain type beard. He wore small round glasses and a doctor's overcoat.

"Good evening," he greeted the two, "My name is Dr. Hugo Strange. Ready?" The man asked, closing his clipboard closed and sticking a hand out, expecting a hand shake. Richard only glared at the man, refusing to accept the gesture. The man simply shrugged and turned to the counter where the syringes and vials of chemicals sat.

"Am I ready? For what? What ever you think you are going to do to me, is not going to happen." Richard said, forcing authority into his fear filled voice. He hopped off the table and began to back away from the older man. He turned around to run, but instead came face to face with a solid object, which quickly grabbed hold of him and turned him to face the doctor once again Slade wasn't going to let him go anywhere. The doctor chuckled as put on a pair of surgical gloves and began to fill a two of the syringes with clear liquid from the vials Next, he took the third syringe and filled his half full with clear liquid from another vial before filling the rest up with grey liquid from a third vial, mixing the two chemicals together.

"To begin your new life, remember," Slade said as he put both hands of Richard's shoulders, holding him steady. Dr. Strange turned around, flicking the syringe, removing any air bubbles that may have formed. He then grabbed an alcohol swab and began to open it.

"Now I need you to sit back up on the bed like a good little boy to I can clean the injection site. No need to chance any infection, especially with this stuff."

"Injection site? I told you this isn't going to happened. You both are crazy." Richard said as he ducked out of Slade's grip and bolted towards the door. Just as he reached it, a hand reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, pulling him back and tossing him onto the medical bed.

"Don't make me hold you down." Slade told the boy as he grabbed his wrist, holding out his arm as he had done while drawing blood. Richard began to squirm and thrash, ignoring Slade's thread, which he was already carrying out.

"I need the boy to be completely still and calm, if I miss, the Xenothium contained within the compound could create a dangerous chemical reaction."

"XENOTHIUM! Your going to inject me with Xenothium! Are you out of your ever loving mind, let me go!"

Richard was I in full panic mode. Xenothium is what he had used to power the suite for Red X and in doing so, knew the instability and dangers of the chemical. He couldn't even imagine being injected with the stuff, even traces of it could have disastrous effects on his body.

Adrenaline rushing through his veins, he struggled against Slade, who tried to hold him still. In one lucky hit, he as able to knee his captor in his chin, catching him off guard and loosening the grip. That split second of Slade's disorientation is all that Richard needed to jump off the bed and run out of the door of the room. Turning the corner, he could see the door that led to the outside.

He took off at full speed, his heart pounding within his chest as he reached for the door, bracing himself to push it open with all of his might.

The next thing that he knew, he was being thrown to the ground as his back slammed against the cold, hard tile of the floor.

Slade straddled him, holding to the ground as he caught the boy's hands in his, forcing them to his chest, keeping the struggling to a minimum. Dr. Strange approached the two, handing Slade a syringe already filled with liquid. Slade grabbed the syringe, holding on to Richard's wrists with his other hand, keeping them in place.

Seeing this, Richard tried one final attempt to escape, letting out a fierce shout, trying to knock Slade off of him, but to no avail as the needle of the syringe plunged into the side of him arm.

Once the liquid was completely injected into his arm, Slade stood and took a few steps back, watching Richard.

Richard rolled to his side as his head begun to spin and his world became disoriented. He struggled to keep his eyes open as darkness threatened to overcome him. As the seconds ticked on, his eyes became heavier and heavier as his body craved sleep. Within moments, Richard lay unconscious on the floor.

"You sure that Fentanyl won't mess the compound?" Slade asked as he walked over to the sedated boy, picking him up bridal style, as a parent would a sleeping child.

"No, he will be fine. We need to get him back in the room though before we inject him with the serum." Dr. Strange told Slade.

The two took the boy back into the small room which Richard had fled from, just moments before. Slade laid him down on the bed as Dr. Strange readied his equipment once again. He made sure that his syringes were still ready for use before opening the alcohol swab.

He carefully cleaned the skin that sat on the inside of his elbow, before inserting the IV, letting it drip. A device was placed on his finger which would keep track of his heartbeat and pad placed on either side of his forehead, measuring brain activity.

"It's all just precaution," Strange said, noticing Slade looking at the machines and the IV drip. "Better safe than sorry, we don't get another chance."

Dr. Strange grabbed his first syringe, which contained clear liquid and injected it into the vein in which the IV drip lay in. He then grabbed the second syringe, also containing clear liquid and injected it into his other arm, right in the vein on the inside of his elbow.

Finally, Strange grabbed the final syringe, the two colored liquids combining to form a light pink color. He then injected this one into the same vein as the last one.

"How long until it takes effect?" Slade asked the doctor, watching him as he began to dispose of the syringes and clean up.

"He should take full effect by the time he wakes up. I would like to keep him here for the next hour, just to keep an eye on his vitals. After that, just take him back and stick him in bed, let him wake up and go from there." Dr. Strange advised, before continuing,

"He'll be disoriented and confused, both due to the compound and the Fentanyl you used to sedate him. The time following when he first wakes up will be crucial in molding the person he will be afterwards. He won't remember much, other than bits and pieces of things, so you'll need to fill in the gaps in which ever way suits your needs. He'll remember emotions, but won't understand why he feels a certain way. He'll need to remain on the drug, as awhile you will need to continue to give him injections once a week, which I have prepared for you. Start them when he wakes up. These will keep the drug in his system. The chemicals will slowly change his mind and after about six months, the process should be complete and you will no longer need them."

"Excellent!"

* * *

><p>Please don't forget to leave a review! Makes me super super happy!<p> 


	11. ReEducation

**Disclaimer: **Have you noticed that all chapter titles come from songs? Either lyrics or titles? I don't own those either. If you can guess where the name of the story came from I'll give you a cookie! Would also be impressed if you can guess each chapter title ;) That'll earn you a cookie cake!

**A/N:** Thank you everyone who has reviewed! I hope you keep reading and that these next parts aren't too difficult to follow. ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen: (Re-Education)<strong>

†_**Batcave†**_

Cyborg couldn't believe where they were. This place was something of legend, a place that people only dreamed about, but never saw. It was almost like legendary myth that you couldn't be sure if it truly existed or not. Beast Boy was going to flip, that was for sure, for at that moment he and Raven stood in the middle of the Batcave. They had arrived only moments before and couldn't help at be amazed at their surroundings. The cave wasn't just a secret base or hideout, it was a literal cave, with caverns, ledges and actual bats flying over head. It was an authentic cave. Just being there seemed overwhelming. Strange artifacts such as a giant penny, a dinosaur and a giant playing card decorated the place. There was also a huge computer, highly advanced from what Cyborg could tell. Part of him wanted to go and play with it, figure out what type of system it was and how much power it had. He guessed it was better than anything they had back at the tower. The cave itself resided under Wayne Manor, which only led Cyborg to the obvious conclusion.

"You're Bruce Wayne, aren't you?" Cyborg asked the man casually.

"Nice to know that Robin at least kept his code of secrecy." Batman said, walking over to the two.

"So that would make Robin..." Raven said.

"Richard Grayson." Batman stated.

"He wasn't a very open person, kept a lot of things to himself. Why would you tell us?" Cyborg explained, though he knew it wasn't needed.

"Sometimes there are matters more important than that of identity, even I can see that, and at the moment I have more pressing issues to be concerned with. Finding Robin is the number one issue and I need you two where I can keep constant surveillance on you. Besides, Robin seemed to trust you, more than I think he realized." Batman explained, "In the meantime, I will have two rooms set up for you upstairs. You two get yourselves situated. I've got things I have to look into."

As if on cue an elderly man in a suit and bow-tie appeared, walking down the stairs. He was mostly bald and had a thin mustache.

"This is Alfred, he will show you to your rooms. If you need anything, ask him." Batman said.

"So you're leaving? Aren't we supposed to be helping you?" Raven asked.

"You will help, when your help is needed. In the meantime there is nothing that you can do."

"I thought you said you didn't have anymore leads?" Cyborg asked, suspiciously.

Neither him nor Raven liked to be left out on any details, nor did they like that they were going to be left behind again. What was the point in them being here if they weren't going to assist in finding Robin and be included every step of the way? Cyborg had a hunch that is was more so that Batman could keep them in their place, rather than so they could be of use. That seemed more likely than the man accepting help from teenagers that he barely knew. He tried to picture what Robin would do in this situation and the more he thought about it, the more he could see Robin only wanting someone's presence to make sure that they stayed out of the way. Robin didn't even like to ask for their help and they were on a team together, let alone someone that he had only recently met.

"I don't. They're more like hunches." Batman said as he got back into his car, the engine roaring to life.

The two teens turned towards Alfred, who was standing next to them, watching the car drive away.

"So, Alfred, right?" Raven asked, unsure of what to say.

"Yes, ma'am. Its a pleasure to meet you both. I can show you both to you're rooms if you'd like, unless you are hungry?" The elderly man responded in a British accent.

"Food? I'm down!" Cyborg exclaimed, more than happy with the offer. With their task of finding Robin occupying most of their time that day, they didn't have much of a chance to find lunch.

"He means: yes, please." Raven said, covering for her rude friend.

"You'll have to excuse the lack of preparation for guests. Understand, we don't get much company here." The butler apologized, leading the two teens up the stairs and into the manor above.

†_**Slade's Hideout†**_

Richard carefully opened his eyes. His head throbbed with pain as he let in as little light as possible. He laid there, trying to ignore the pain and sink back into the darkness, back into unconsciousness where his head didn't hurt so bad and his mind wasn't so jumbled. He wasn't sure why, but something about the way that he felt seemed so familiar and it made him want to curls tightly into a ball and go back to sleep.

A sudden churn in his stomach made him instantly jump up and lean over the bed as he heaved up the contents that were in his stomach. The digested bits of food and stomach content sloshed into a bucket that sat in the perfect spot next to his bed, making him assume that someone had foreseen this moment.

As he finished, he wiped his mouth as he looked around the room. His head still pounded and his stomach was still very sensitive and nauseous. His entire body felt shaky and weak. The room he was in was very small and plain, only having a few pieces of furniture. It felt wrong, yet it felt overwhelmingly familiar. It help to calm him nerves, making him think that he was alright, just disoriented. He noticed a glass of water which sat on his nightstand and carefully picked it up, carefully sipping on it to get rid of the taste in his mouth, yet cautious not to upset his stomach any more than it already was.

The metal door against the far wall suddenly opened slowly as a man with an eye patch, white hair and a white goatee stepped in carrying a a tray. On that tray was a syringe and a cup of of liquid, which the man set down on the table.

"How are you feeling?" The man asked him, grabbing the chair form the table and pulling it over to set next to the bed. Slowly, he sat down to become eye level with him.

His only response was to shake his head, still trying to make sense of the situation.

"It's good to see you finally wake up. We were worried. You've been ill for quite some time, we almost didn't think that you would make it," said the man, grabbing the cup, "I brought you a small cup of soup, you must be hungry. Its not much, I don't want to make you sick."

The white haired man gave the cup of soup to the boy, who took it and began to sip on it. The hot substance already starting to make him feel better. It was thick and felt good on his stomach.

"What do you remember?" asked the man, wanting to get information from the boy.

"Not much," the boy said, his voice coming out weak. He wasn't sure if it was from lack of use or because he had just thrown up, but he didn't like it. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Everything is just a blur...bits and peaces...I remember this place, its familiar, you are too, though I don't really remember you exactly...its confusing."

"My name is Slade," the boy's eyes widened in remembrance, nodding to that familiar name.

"I remember..."

"You probably don't remember _me_ because when we work, I usually have on a mask, but I figured this would be an easier face to wake up to. Do you remember how you go here?"

_A mask? Why would he wear a mask?_

He sat there, quietly, trying to remember the things that he was asked. He couldn't.

"No." Richard admitted quietly. He couldn't remember how he had gotten here, or even where here was. All he remembered were faces and names, but not how they fit together. He looked up at the man who only smiled, or rather smirked at him. He wasn't sure if it was meant to reassure him, or perhaps the man before him was making an unspoken comment on his situation.

"You were out on a mission when you were attacked by the Titans. They captured you and took you to their leader, Batman."

"I know the names and I can remember their faces...well, sorta...they are..blurry? I remember feelings, good and bad...that doesn't seem right...it's not making any sense, something seems wrong. Nothing is making any sense/"

"Of course its wrong, Richard. Its wrong what they tried to do to you, they tried to trick you. They drugged you, trying to keep you locked up, which is what made you so sick."

_What they tried to do to me?_

"I remember Batman...and I remember feeling the need to leave, he was telling me something..."

"Yes, you tried to escape and he tried to keep you there, under his control," Slade encouraged the tale, grabbing the syringe.

"What's that!" Richard asked, beginning to panic at the sight. Something told him that syringes were not got, that he should be afraid. The sight of the syringe brought back bad memories of feelings and the need to escape. He remembered feeling terror.

"Its no wonder you would have that reaction after what you've been through, after having them drug you. This isn't like the drug they injected you with. This is simply a counter drug, an antidote if you were." Slade explained, "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I understand how confusing things must be."

"Drugs? What drugs are you talking about? What do you need to counter?"

"I told you, Batman was trying to control you. One way he tried to accomplish this was to drug you with a mind control drug."

"How did I escape?" Richard asked, looking down at his sheets, trying to make sense of everything.

"I came and rescued you of course! You're like a son to me, I couldn't just leave you there."

"So, I'm not your son right? My parents...I remember them, my mother...where are they?"

"They're dead. They were killed by one of Batman's men. They're names were Mary and John Grayson. You'r parents and I were close. Best friends. Even named me your Godfather. After they died, I took you in, raised you. Batman and his gang have always been against us. The two sides have always been rivals."

"Why?"

"It was between Batman and your parents. He's the one that killed them, you know. Tried to kill you too, but I was able to protect you. He's been after you ever since."

Richard sat there, thinking everything over. It was odd. Though he had no real, clear memories that he could put together in his head, other than a few fuzzy images, he could remember feelings and emotions that were attached to those images. He had memories of so many emotions that had occurred to him throughout his life, from the feeling of exhilaration to the feeling of total devestation. In a way, some of it made sense from the various feelings he remembered, such as the feelings of abandonment, distrust, anger and sadness, but there were still things that didn't make sense to him. He figured that was part of the drugs that he had been given. His mind was so clouded and fogged that he knew he must have been drugged at some point. He had no other choice but to go on Slade's words as he explained every doubt and emotion away. Somehow, what he was told seemed to fit, yet he still had this feeling that there was something more, perhaps something that Slade was keeping from him.

"Here," Slade said, grabbing Richard's wrist and straightening his arm, getting it ready for the injection. "Normally we would go to the infirmary to do this, but I don't want to make you get up. These injects are made to slowly counteract the drugs that they gave you, and soon you will remember things and everything will make sense again. I promise."

Richard nodded, before coming up with another question as Slade began to inject the liquid into his vein. He couldn't help but wince at the slight burn it caused.

"You called me Richard...while, that seems right, it also doesn't...I don't know how to explain it, but it feels so wrong, but I know that's my name...I'm not making any sense..."

"No, you are making perfect sense," Slade told him, "Richard is your name, you are right, but Batman and the Titans have a different name for you, Robin."

That name he remembered. The name reminded him of his mother. It was a pet name given to him and a name that made him happy. It had good, warm feelings attached to it, nothing negative that he could tell. Slade took notice of the change in Richard's facial expression, giving him a questioning look.

"My mother used to call me that. It was a pet name for me," the memory made him smile, before being replaced by confusion. "Why would they call me that if it was my mother's name for me?"

"Because they know it to be special to you. Remember, they are responsible for your parent's deaths. Its like a sick joke to something, something they can throw back in your face. They taunt you with it." Slade sighed as he put the syringe away. "Well, I think that is enough for now, you need to get some rest. You should feel better by tomorrow. I will be attending other business and so Wintergreen will be looking after you, he's a very good friend of ours. Tomorrow, I have a surprise for you, so you need to get better."

"I think I have one more question," Richard stated as Slade began to get, replacing the chair to its rightful spot in front of the table. He stopped, turned and nodded to him, encouraging him to voice his thoughts. "I know I'm not your son and I...I don't...What I mean is, what am I to you? Where do I stand?"

Slade wasn't sure if he was surprised by the question or if he should have expected it. Surely he couldn't come out and tell the kid the entire truth, that they were rivals and he was forcing and apprenticeship on him, especially after the lies he just fed to him, nor could he tell him that they were partners in crime. That would suggest that the two of them were equal and Slade would have a more difficult time giving out orders. The boy would most likely fight and resist, wanting to be treated as an equal. But bend the truth? That he could definitely do. A mixing of the two would do the best.

"You are like a student of mine, a protege if you were. I have been teaching and mentoring you for some time now. I've taught you almost everything you know, aside from certain basics which were taught to you by you're parents. I simply picked up where they were forced to leave off. I've been helping you to become the best you can be and helping you to succeed. You have great potential and I've been making sure that you meet that potential. My training is tough, but you've managed it well and you will continue to do so, even through this little bump in the road. Someday, you will carry on the legacy that I have built and will become a legend."

"What am I trying to succeed at?"

"To follow in my footsteps, make a name for yourself and make your parents proud. To become the man that they always wanted you to be. It's all you've ever wanted."

Richard could do nothing but nod as he laid back down. He couldn't argue with the explanation as he hadn't any solid memories to tell him if they were right or wrong. As Slade left, he rolled over to face the wall, trying to hide away and go back to sleep.

* * *

><p>Lovely review, from lovely readers? :)<p> 


	12. The Missing Frame

**A/N: **Sorry, I'm a bit late on this chapter. I usually like to have these out on the weekends, but I've been sick, so its taking a bit longer to accomplish stuff. Lol Thanks to all your lovely reviews, I am also running behind on responding to them. Hopefully by the time you read this, you will have been responded to. :)

Also, this chapter coming up, I just have one thing to ask of you...please don't kill me! This is the one that I had planned from the very beginning and have been nervous about since *hides under sofa*

ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen: The Missing Frame<strong>

_**†Gotham City†**_

"You know, I think that Cyborg was right, this place is definitely no Jump City." Beast Boy said in awe as he and Starfire walked down the streets of Gotham.

The two teens, stood on the outskirts of Gotham, having just flown all the way across the country from Jump City.

"Yes, it does not seem 'home – like'," the red headed teen agreed.

"So, Star, how do you suggest we find Raven and Cyborg?"

"Why not just contact them on our communicators?" Starfire suggested, taking out her black and yellow hand held communicator, getting ready to make the call.

"No!" Beast Boy exclaimed, grabbing the communicator from the girl.

"But why not?"

"Because, he's going to yell at us for leaving the city and coming here after he told us to stay in Jump. Then he'll go on about how we left Jump City unprotected...blah blah blah blah blah" Beast Boy explained, making a talking motion with his hand, mocking their temporary leader.

"But will he not do that when we find him anyways?"

Beast Boy's ears drooped at the alien girl's logic. He knew that she was right. No matter how they went about it, they were screwed. Cyborg was going to be mad no matter how he found out that they were here. He just really hated being yelled at, hated being in trouble. It made him feel like a little kid all over again.

Even though the two had traveled all this way, now that they were here they weren't sure of what to do. They came without any plans or any idea of where to go. Having never been to the Gotham City before, they had no idea where to even start or where their friends might be. At this point, they were basically walking the city blind as a bat...speaking of which...

"Don't any of you kids know how to follow orders?"

Then again, maybe having Cyborg find out that they disobeyed their orders wasn't the worst thing that could happen. What was worse was tall, dark and overwhelmingly terrifying. It was also standing right behind them. If there was one thing that was work than being caught disobeying orders from Cyborg, was being caught disobeying orders from Batman.

_**†Slade's Hideout†**_

The next time that Richard woke he found himself to be alone once again, only this time his head wasn't pounding and his mind wasn't as fuzzy. The name 'Slade' and the image of a black and orange mask stood at the forefront of his memory, signifying something of great meaning. What exactly, he couldn't remember.

Richard got up from his bed, with the need to stretch and move his muscles. He wasn't sure how long he had been out, but the more he moved, the more he remembered. He remembered the man with the white goatee, Slade his mind recalled, and the conversation that had taken place. Any memories before that were only fragments, bits and pieces which contained names and faces. He just couldn't place them together. They were like pieces of an impossible puzzle.

He reached for the door and tried to open it, only to find it locked.

_Why would it be locked?_

He struggled, to try and get it open, but the metal door didn't budge. The idea of being locked within the room raised a level of anger in the teen that he wasn't sure how to deal with. He felt the need to be destructive and tear something down to the ground. He wanted to bang on the door until it fell to pieces. He wanted to blow the whole room to bits and watch it burn. He reached towards his waist out of instinct, not sure what he was expecting to find, not knowing exactly why he did it.

A sound caught his attention as the door slowly began to open, making him take a few steps back. An elderly man, who he assumed was Wintergreen from his conversation with Slade, came through the door holding a tray with a plate of food on it. The sight of the man with food and the opened door calmed him nerves and settled the emotions raging within him, knowing he wasn't entirely trapped in the tiny room.

"Nice to see you finally awoke. I've check on you a few times, but you were always sleeping. I do hope that you are hungry as I've brought some lunch for you."

The elderly man set the tray on the table, before turing back towards Richard, waiting for him to respond.

"Am I a prisoner here?" The question threw Wintergreen off guard. He wasn't sure how to answer the boy, as whatever answer he gave could have have huge effects.

"Why would you ask such a thing?"

"The door was locked. Why else would I not be allowed out?"

"For you're own protection of course," Wintergreen lied, "You were so disoriented before, we thought it unwise to allow you to wander the compound alone."

Wintergreen hated to lie. It was something he tried not to do, even while working with Slade. He liked to be honest. I liked to view himself has an honest, honorable man, a gentleman of sorts. A gentleman never lies. But he also understood what Slade was trying to do and the importance of it. Therefore, as he saw, he had no other choice but to forgo his own personal moral obligations for the greater mission at hand. He knew when to keep his mouth shut and when to speak. It was something Richard had once known. He had figured it out rather quickly during his first apprenticeship and learned that if the old man said something, he could be trusted to be telling the truth, unlike Slade. All the more reason why lying now for Slade made him uneasy.

To Richard, the lie made sense and so he took it as the truth. Something in his subconscious told him that this was a man that he could trust. He didn't know why, but knew that at some point in his life, he trusted this man.

He made his way to the table, his stomach growling at the sight of the food before him. Sitting down, he immediately began to munch on the chicken sandwich that was on the plate. The glass of milk that was brought as well wasn't as cold as he would have liked, but he drank it readily.

_When was the last time that I ate?_

He figured it had probably been awhile, judging by how hungry he was, but there was really no way to tell how long he had been out. That and he remembered throwing up the last time he was awake. That definitely didn't help as any food he did have in him was only tossed into the trash can.

Wintergreen came back through the door, this time holding a pair of clothes in his hands. On top of the clothes sat a pair of shoes.

_When had he left?_

The elder man set the clothes down on the table next to him. Finishing his meal, Richard picked up the clothes and immediately began to change into them, not even minding the man that began to make the sheets back up on his bed.

The clothes were simple, a pair of dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt. The shoes were nothing but a pair of black Chuck Taylors.

"If you follow me, Slade is in one of the other rooms that you two often use for training. Said that he would like to see you as soon as you woke. I believe he has something for you."

A 'surprise', he remembered Slade telling him. Curious, and still wanting an excuse to leave the room, Richard got up from his chair and followed the elder man out into the hallway and down to another room.

Once in the room Richard could see Slade practicing various moves and techniques with a bo staff. He wore a his full uniform, mask securely in place. He stood for a moment, watching the man work, memorizing the moves. They were very familiar, many of which he was sure he used himself on more than one occasion.

It was only a moment before Slade noticed his presence, setting the bo staff against the wall before walking over to the boy.

"Good to see you up and about," Slade said. "If you remember, I said that I had something for you."

The boy nodded, curious to see what Slade had for him. Slade motioned behind him, making him turn around to see what was going on. Behind him, he could see Wintergreen walking in behind him with a dog trotting in tow.

Confused, Richard looked back at Slade for an explanation. He knew he had seen the dog before as feelings rushed to him. Feelings of loyalty, pity, responsibility, resentment, reliance, sadness and anger were attached to the memory of the dog. The feelings did little explain where he knew the dog from and what connection he had with it. All together the feelings made little sense as well. How could he have such conflicting emotions toward something?

"When we rescued you we were able to grab the dog as well, only a small blow to their team, but its better than nothing. They used the dog to draw you in. Knowing your soft spot for defenseless animals, you tried to help it. You didn't know it was a trap as the dog led you right into their hands."

Slade's lie made him look at the dog in a way that made anger rise up within him, just as it did when he couldn't get the door open earlier. He wasn't sure where these strong surges of rage and negative emotion kept coming from, but it was almost overwhelming. He felt betrayed by what Slade was telling him. Betrayed by the dog and betrayed by his own feelings of unknown loyalty. To whom that loyalty belong, he wasn't sure.

Slade put a hand on his shoulder and pulled an object from his belt. He looked down to see what it was and noticed a gun was being handed to him. Cautiously he took the fire arm from the man, wrapping his hand around the object.

The weight of it felt good and familiar. He had obviously shot it before, there was no doubt about that. As the gun sat in his hand it almost felt right. The gun was heavy and comforting, cool against his fingers.

He wasn't completely sure what Slade had in mind for him to do with it, but he had a pretty good idea.

"Now is the time to get your revenge against them for trying to destroy who you are, trying to destroy you."

"What do you want me to do?" the boy asked, eyes remaining on the gun.

"I want you to shoot the dog, of course. They tried to take you away, so we are going to retaliate and take one of their own. This is the business we are in, the world we live in. We kill when necessary. It may be tough, but that is the way things are, its what you do. You've done it before and you'll do it again. Kill or be killed."

The statement and suggestions made Richard feel uneasy. He wasn't sure, but it almost felt like a threat. He was so familiar with the gun, Slade must have been right, he must have shot it before. He also knew how to aim it, so he must have aim it at something or someone.

Turning around, Richard faced the dog, still on its leash, who wagged its tail and became antsy at the sight of the boy's attention.

"Remember Richard. Remember what they did to you, what they did to your parents. How they murdered them in cold blood. Remember the pain they caused!" Slade urged on.

He definitely remembered the pain of losing them. He may not be able to remember their deaths, but the pain that it cause burned brightly in his heart.

"Do it! Do it for your parents! Show them that you will show them no mercy, just as they have shown you!"

With little hesitation Richard raised the gun, aiming it at the defenseless dog. He felt bad for the dog. Slade was right, he did have a soft spot for animals and that made this all the more hard, but at the same time, the thought of Batman and the Titans trying to destroy him, kidnapping him and drugging him, made him furious. The thought and pain of his parents being taken from him, only fueled the fire, until he only saw red. It was that fury that he concentrated on as he pulled the trigger. A loud bang, followed by a sudden whelp filled the air, quickly and unnaturally followed by silence.

The sight of the dog falling down, seemingly lifeless onto the floor. Red liquid seeped from the shoulder of the creature, creating a small shallow pool below it.

Richard fell to his knees and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. The anger dissipated and was completely replaced by sorrow and remorse for his action. He didn't know why his actions felt so wrong or why he felt as though his heart was breaking, being shattered as if he had show through his own heart.

"Ace..." The name that escaped from his mouth was unexpected as he surprised himself at knowing the name. It was the dog's name, he knew. A name that felt like so much more that just a name.

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts as he looked up to see Slade looking down on him, masked removed so that he could look into his lone eye.

"I'm sorry, I should have known that it may have this effect on you. Having not many memories, this must be like taking your first kill all over again, a very emotional event for anyone."

"Over again? I've killed before? How many?"

For some reason he couldn't see himself as the type of person that would intentionally take someones life, not as he had just done.

"Yes, you have killed before. As I told you, it is our line of work, something that we do in order to both survive and to succeed in this world. I cannot however tell you how many you have killed as it is something that even I don't know. Only you can know that."

"But I don't. I don't remember my life before the other day...not enough to make sense of it anyway. I definitely don't remember killing anyone."

"What about the lady form the alley way? The one with the little girl named Amy? That was you're most recent kill before all of this happened."

Richard couldn't deny that there was something there. He didn't remember the event in full, but he saw the ladies face as she laid their lifeless with a child clinging to her side.

"You remember her, don't you?" The boy nodded. He didn't know how he could forget something like that, yet, here he was, without a complete memory of the event.

Shaking his head of his thoughts, he stood up, wiping the tears from his face and hardening up. If this was the way things were, he would have to learn to get over it. He knew how to adapt to situations and he would adapt to this. Adapt to not remembering his life, only going on the words that Slade told him. He was confident that it would eventually come to him and he and Slade could get life back to normal.

"If you are feeling up to it, I have an assignment for you, a loose end that needs to be tied up."

"What kind of loose end?" Richard asked, turning from where he could still see the dog lay on the floor, around and up towards Slade.

"The man that supplied Batman and his friends with the drugs they gave you. I know where he is and we can't chance him giving more to them...or better yet, something worse. We can't risk him creating something even worse if they should capture you again."

"What did they give me?"

"They were trying to brainwash you buy giving you a drug that would mess with your mind. That is why it is so scrambled at the moment. It was also designed to make you more aggressive, perhaps in hope that you would take that anger out on me as a way to get you to finish us off."

_So that's where all this anger is coming from..._

"You're lucky I was able to save you when I did, before they could complete the process. You're even more lucky I was able to come up with a counter drug on such short notice. The components of what they gave you I was familiar enough with to know what would stop them from taking full effect."

The idea of someone trying to control him was unthinkable, unimaginable. It was something that he was not going to tolerate. This man that created the drug...he would have to go down.

The boy nodded in agreement with Slade. He would do the job and he would make sure that nothing like this would ever happen to him again.

_**†Gotham City†**_

Cyborg drove down the road towards the west end of Gotham with a scowl on his face. Next to him was Raven and in the back seat were the remaining titans, minus Robin of course. Raven looked at Cyborg. She could tell that he was not in a happy mood, not that any of them had been since this whole thing started, but this was different. She watched as he sat there, pouting like a little kid who had his favorite toy taken away or told that they would no longer be going to Disneyland.

"You can't really blame them for coming." She stated.

"Yea, dude, we couldn't just sit there anymore, knowing that Robin was here. Besides, there wasn't much going on back in Jump. The city will be fine." Beast Boy said, trying to explain to his temporary leader.

"It's not that..." Cyborg started.

"Then what is it friend?" Starfire asked, curious as to why her friend would be sad if not for them disobeying him.

"You should have let me make that call Rae," Cyborg said, frown evident on his face. "I wanted it so bad!"

"I can't believe you're still upset about that," Raven rolled her eyes. That is what this was about? Not being able to brag to Beast Boy? Sometimes she couldn't believe how immature her friends could be. However, she knew how to fix it...

"Well, you did get to see the Batcave first." Raven pointed out, knowing this would give him something he could use against the green one.

"I did, didn't I?" A smile came over the metal teen as he still had something to brag about.

"Yea, but we got to ride in the Batmobile!" Beast Boy one upped him, making Raven turn around to glare at him.

"Rae!" Cyborg cried out to his friend, having been shot back down.

"Friends, should we not concentrate on Robin, rather than who got to do what?" Starfire said, trying to reason with the two boys.

"Starfire's right, you two need to stop these childish games and we need to be focused. Batman gave us a lead and we need to do our best to find out what we can."

The two boys looked down in shame. Of course Raven was right. They needed to be more focused. They shouldn't be stuck on childish rivalry and needed to worry about finding Robin. That was the only thing that mattered.

"You're right, lets just worry about getting what we can are going to find down here. Apparently this guy was knows a guy that recently worked for Strange. Hopefully he worked for him after Strange changed his lab location, otherwise, it'll be just another dead end."

* * *

><p>*peers from under her sofa* Please review! And please keep reading!<p> 


	13. What You've Always Fear

**A/N: **Hopefully some of you have stuck around after the last chapter and you are continuing on! And thank you so much for everyone that has reviewed, they were very interesting to get this time around. I was almost nervous to read each one of them and was happy that the past chapter was generally well received. Thank you guys for sticking with me! ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen: What You've Alway Feared<strong>

_**†****Gotham City - Titans†**_

The T-Car pulled up in front of an old apartment building in the middle of West Gotham before piling out of the car and heading inside. Batman had found a lead and it had led them to these apartments. The neighborhood was run down and the building most likely served as the home of someone who was lower class. They searched for apartment 231, where they knew a man to be living that knew someone who worked for Strange. It was most likely another dead end, but it was all they had for now. Batman was off somewhere else in the city, tracking down other leads he had gotten. He didn't tell them what those leads were. The only one he would go into detail about was the one that they were given.

"So, how did Batman find this guy?" Raven asked, curiously. The man seemed to find leads and clues in places where there were none. The other three teens looked at one another and shrugged before a simple and obvious answer was given by Cyborg.

"Because he's Batman."

"Good enough." Raven replied as the group came up to the door.

Cyborg gently knocked on the door as the group waited for a reply. They stood there for a few moments in awkward silence before a young man answered the door. He was no older than 20 years old with shaggy red hair and green eyes. He had on nothing but a plain white t-shirt, a pair of light raggedy blue jeans and a pair of socks.

"Can I help you?" the man asked the teens nervously.

"We hope so. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" asked Raven.

"Who are you? The police? I haven't done anything, I swear!" The man exclaimed, throwing his hand up in defense.

"No, we aren't the police. We are the Teen Titans and we mean no just need to ask you a few questions, is all. We are just looking for someone that went missing. We think you may know someone who can help us out. You're in no trouble, I promise." Cyborg said in defense.

Nodding, the young man let the teens into his small apartment. There wasn't much in it beside a couch, a TV and small table. The apartment was humble and only had the bare basics. The man led the group over to the table and sat down. Cyborg and Raven followed, taking a chair opposite of the man, while Starfire and Beast Boy stood behind them.

"My name is Ronald," the young man started, "I just live a simple life, go to work, come home...that's about it, but I will try and help you the best that I can."

"Thank you. My name is Cyborg, this is Raven. Those two," Cyborg said, pointing to the two teens behind them, " are Starfire and Beast Boy. We are looking for a man who recently worked for a man named Dr. Strange. Does that name sound familiar at all? Do you know anyone who was running errands for a doctor or someone big? May have been paid well?"

"Strange? Yes, actually. My brother...Vince...he was telling me about making deliveries for a someone named Strange. Name really stuck out to me. He's the bragging type. A good kid, but I know he needs money, so he gets it anyway he can. He doesn't do anything illegal, as far as I know...he tries not to ask too many questions. Doesn't want to get too involved. He's got a baby on the way see, and just wants to get in, get his money and get out. He never was too good at holding a normal steady job."

"Do you know how long ago its been that he was working for him?" Raven asked Ronald.

"I know he did a delivery for him really recently. He told me he had to go to Jump City to pick something up for a guy named Strange. Wasn't very long ago."

The four titans looked at one another., surprised that the lead was correct and just how close it was. This was more than they had expected. They had run into so many dead ends that none of them expected for this to be any different. They definitely hadn't expected to for this guy to know the man who picked up the shipment of Xenothium. With every moment that passed, the four teens could feel themselves getting closer and closer to their lost friend.

"Do you know where we can find your brother?"

"Please, I don't want him to be in any trouble. He's really a good kid. I can assure you he means no harm. He's made some mistakes in the past, but he's tried to make up for them. If he's done something wrong..."

"Your brother will be fine, as long as you tell us where he is. This is a dangerous game your brother has become involved in. All we want from him is the location of Strange and where where he took the delivery to. Strange will know where our friend is, or so we hope. After that, your brother is free to do whatever he wants and if he's in trouble, we can help him. This Strange guy, is not a good guy. Your brother could be in a lot of danger by messing around with him. Strange is working for someone even more dangerous and that guy doesn't leave any loose ends. For your brother's sake, you _need_ to tell us where he is." Raven explained the extent of the situation.

They weren't sure how Dr. Strange operated, but they knew how Slade worked. Slade would not tolerate any open ends and he was not hesitant to kill someone. He was a professional who knew what he was doing and that made him dangerous and anyone linked to him in danger.

"Alright, I know where he is." Ronald said, after taking a moment to consider what he should do and whether he can trust these new people. He was concerned for his brother and something told him that these kids could be trusted.

_**†Gotham City – Richard†**_

Richard arrived at a small office in the middle of the Art District in downtown Gotham. His jeans and t-shirt were traded in for his old familiar apprentice uniform. A mask once again covered his blue eyes.

Without hesitating he opened the front door and walked into the reception area. Fear immediately raised within him. A man with a beard and small round glasses flashed in his mind. Memories of panic and terror came to the front of his mind, making him anxious and ready to get this over with.

The hallway past the receptionist desk was small with only two doors. The first room was set up like a small doctor's office, complete with monitors and medical supplies. He knew he had been in the room before and wondered if this is where it took place. The thought made his both fearful and angry. Fearful from the emotions that he could remember from the place and angry for what happened. He was angry at Strange for doing it to him and angry at himself for letting it happen.

Walking out of the room, he head to the other door, opening it slowly. This room was much larger. In this room were chalkboard filled with formulas, as well as a desk filled with papers. A table in the middle of the room contained bottles of different chemicals and other necessities such as a microscope, complete with slides. All in all it looked like a chemistry set for a professional scientist.

A door opened on the far side of the room as an older man came walking out, looking at something inside of the vial that he was holding up. Richard recognized him as the man he pictured when he walked through the door, assuming that he was Dr. Strange. It only took a moment for the man to notice his presence, causing him to drop the vial.

The liquid spilled out onto the floor, causing a slight smoke to rise from the ground from the tiny puddle. A type of acid perhaps.

"Geez! You startled me!" Strange said. "I wasn't told that you were coming over. Oh well, is there something that I can do for you my boy? From the looks of it, the injection must have worked just fine."

Richard did nothing but stare at the man for a moment, contemplating his next move. He was unsure what made the man think that his formula worked on him, but he would show him just how wrong he was. Strange, on the other hand, seemed thrown off by his blank stare, unsure of what to do.

"What's wrong with you, boy? I asked you a question!" Strange said, becoming impatient and a bit freaked out by the child before him.

Richard grabbed the gun that was at his side, slowly raising it and pointing it at the man that stood in front of him.

"Wait! What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

His hand began to shake a bit, for a moment unsure if this was the right thing for him to do. Doubts crept into his mind as he pulled the trigger, listening to the sound of the gun and watching the sight of the man fall.

A pang of guilt shot through him as looked at the man lying motionless before him, blood spilling from him to mix with the chemicals that he had dropped only moments before. As the bits of blood mixed with the chemicals on the floor, they slowly turned away, leaving no sign of either blood or the acid behind. Instead a small dark spot where it was burned into the tiled floor.

Richard turned from the sight, a part of him not wanting to look at it anymore. He casually walked out the front door and into the night air, his mission accomplished.

A voice in his ear caught his attention, making him stop outside of the shop. His hand immediately went to the device placed in his ear, gently pushing on it, as if to hear it better.

"I trust your mission went well?" Slade's voice came through, asking him.

"All loose ends are tied up, sir." Richard replied.

"Almost. I have one more mission for you before you come back." Richard said nothing, encouraging the speaker to go on.

"There is a man that lives in Gotham, his name is Vince Ream and he was in charge of delivering many of the supplies used in the formula given to you. Without him, Strange would of had a hard time creating the drug."

"Where can I find him?"

_**†Gotham City - Titans†**_

The four Titans made their way to the address that Ronald had given them. It was located in another apartment building not too far from where his brother lived and they were sure it was in the same condition judging by the location and condition of the building. It was definitely an older building, one where someone without a lot of money would live.

They made their way up to apartment 432 and stood back as Raven knocked on the door. It only took a moment before a young lady, no older than 19 opened the door. She wore a blue dress that came to her knees, with a grey sweater over it. Her black hair was up in a pony tail and her brown eyes looked tired and she was obviously pregnant, probably due at any time now. This had to be the right place.

"May I help you?" asked the young lady.

"Is Vince here?" Raven asked.

"Is there something _I_ can help you with?" the young lady asked again, avoiding the question.

"Ma'am, we just need to asked Vince some questions about one of his employers. Vince may be in danger, we're here to help him." Cyborg explained.

The young lady peered her head into the hall, cautiously looking both ways, making sure the close was clear.

"Come in," she said as she led the four Titans into the small apartments. Just as Ronald's, the apartment was simple, with nothing but the basics in furniture. She led them over to the couch, motioning for them to take a seat. Cyborg and Beast Boy sat on the small couch, looking crowded, while Raven stood next to it. Starfire stood just behind it the two Titans sitting on the couch.

The young lady disappeared into the hallway before returning a moment later, following a young man about the same age. His feature's were similar to Ronald's, same red hair and green eyes, only obviously a bit younger. He walked over, standing in front of the Titans as the pregnant lady sat in the recliner, propping her feet up.

"You needed to talk to me?" Vince asked the teens before him.

"Yea, we heard you were making deliveries for Dr. Strange. Did you pick up a shipment of Xenothium?" Cyborg asked the boy.

"Look, I just do what I'm paid to do..."

"You're not in any trouble," Raven said, trying to ease the man enough get what they needed out of him. "We just need some information."

"Yes, please, we are trying to find a friend of ours." Starfire added.

The man looked between the two, contemplating, before sitting down on the coffee table that sat in front of the couch, head in his hands. He took a deep breath before looking back up at Cyborg.

"I took a job from a guy named Dr. Strange. He hired me to go to Jump City and pick up a shipment of chemicals for him. Told me it they were very dangerous, but he paid me very well, so I took it. That's all I did. I haven't heard from him since."

"We need to know where you delivered it to." Raven said.

"To his office, down in the Art District." Vince said, turing a slight degree to look at Raven in the face as he told her.

The Titans all looked at one another.

"Do you have an address for the place?" Cyborg asked.

Vince nodded, getting up to walk into the kitchen only to emerge moments later with the address written down on an old grocery receipt. The Titans stood, each thanking them for his help as they headed out the door. Raven stopped, turning back to the couple.

"Just as a little warning, the man that Strange has been working for, the man the he needed the chemicals for, is known for tying up 'loose ends'. We aren't sure if he knows about you or not, but just be careful. If I were you two, I'd go someplace else. Don't stay here. Preferably, we'd like you to go to the police, they should be able to help keep you safe. "

Vince nodded as Raven turned to catch up with the Titans. They had a professor to see and they didn't want to waste any time.

Once in the T-Car Cyborg sent out a radio signal to Batman, needing to give him an update on what was going on.

"Did you get anything?" Came the rough voice over the radio.

"We found the guy the made the Xenothium delivery. Sending you the coordinates of Strange's office, located down in the Art District of Gotham."

With the message sent the group of teens headed east towards Gotham's well known Art District, knowing that Batman would already be on his way there.

* * *

><p>Don't forget to review! Doesn't take long...promise :)<p> 


	14. In My Heart I Know I Failed You

Hey everyone! Thanks to all of you who have been hanging in there with me, I hate to say it, but we are actually almost done! This definitely isn't the last chapter, but we are getting close so hopefully you guys stick it out till the end and I can keep you entertained until then :)

ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Sixteen: In My Heart I Know I Failed You<strong>

_**†Gotham - Titans†**_

Gotham Art District, known for having some of the best art museums and galleries in the US, also home to many artists and those who tend to lean more to the creative side. A small coffee shop could be found on any corner, along side many other small businesses. All in all, it was a rather nice part of Gotham, not run down like the places that they had been to yet. It was definitely not the type of place that you would expect a top villain to be residing and creating evil.

TheT-Car pulled up to the address that was written on the back of the crumpled up grocery receipt, the headlights going dark as it came to a complete stop. The doors opened and four teens got out and began to head toward the entrance to the small shop.

Before they could reach it, the door swung open to reveal Batman. None of the teens were surprised to see him. In fact, they would have been more surprised if he _hadn't_ of beaten them here.

"Did you find anything? Was Strange in there?" Cyborg asked as he stepped forward from his group.

"He's here, but looks like we're not the first to find him."

"What do you mean?" asked Raven.

"He's been shot and I think I can guess who is behind it." Batman answered, causing the four teens to gasped.

"You mean Robin, don't you. Is he..." Starfire began, afraid to ask her question. Strange was their connection to Slade, the only one they knew of that could give them any possible answer as to where he was keeping Robin.

"He's alive, but barely. That's what makes me think it was Robin. Had it of been Slade, Strange would be dead." As if on cue, an ambulance flew around the corner, coming to a stop behind the T-Car. Several paramedics hopped out of the vehicle and up to where Batman and the teen stood. Wordlessly, Batman pointed inside the building, signaling the direction they were needed. Almost instantly they all disappeared within the building.

"I don't think it was Slade that shot him. If Slade was after him, he would have been dead for sure. He's not the kind of man to do something so sloppy as leave his victim without making sure that he was dead. He's not the kind of man to miss his target. The bullet pierced close to the heart, but didn't hit. Like whoever shot him was aiming for the heart and missed."

The group watched as the Dr. Strange was pulled out on a stretcher and put into the back of the ambulance.

"You guys head back to the cave. We need to regroup," Batman ordered.

"What about you?" Beast Boy asked.

"I want to go and check up on the man that made the delivery. He may be targeted, as well as Chang," Batman said, glaring at the group of teens, especially Starfire and Beast Boy for leaving him unwatched. The Titans couldn't argue after an accusation like that and so could only obey the orders that they were given. They hopped back into the T-Car and headed back to Wayne Manor (i.e. the Batcave). Batman had already disappeared by the time they pulled away from the curb.

_**†Gotham - Robin†**_

Richard stood on the roof, across from an old apartment building in one of the run down areas of Gotham City. Using a pair of binoculars he peered through a window, into the apartment that he figured belonged to the address that Slade had given him. Through the binoculars, Richard could see a man sitting in a chair, talking with another person, a lady. The two looked to be about 18 or 19 years old, only a few years older than himself. From how things appeared, he'd say that the girl was about eight or nine months pregnant.

"What are you doing here?" A voice asked from behind him.

Richard turned around to see a dark figure, covered in shadows, though somehow he had a good idea who it was.

"Who's there?" he asked the figure anyway, who stepped out from the shadows as a response.

Richard stared at the man before him, different feelings and emotions rushed through him. The mix was almost overwhelming and only confused him, a sensation he was beginning to become familiar with. He felt anger, annoyance, disappointment, anxiety, and fear. He understood why he would feel this way when he met up with the Bat. He knew that was who he was. He remembered the face. After everything that Slade said he had done to him, he would be crazy to think that the reunion would be happy. What he couldn't understand was the other emotions that he felt. He felt respect, loyalty, admiration and even love, the type of love that you would feel for a parent, rather than a romantic type. Then there was the feeling of shame. He felt ashamed for being caught at what he was attempting, especially by Batman, as if he was a kid caught doing something bad by a parent. For some reason he didn't want to let him down. It didn't make any sense. The mixed emotions only confused him and the confusion of not being able to understand his emotions and the lack of a solid memory terrified him.

It didn't matter. He didn't have time to sort out his emotions now and figure out where everyone he saw stood. He just wanted to get this over with so that he could hurry and get back to the compound.

"What do you want from me?" He asked the Bat.

Batman couldn't help but look at the kid skeptically. To him, it was obvious that he was not himself.

"Robin, do you know who I am?" he asked the boy cautiously.

"Of course I know who you are _Batman. _I know what you tried to do to me, but it didn't work. You failed."

"Robin..."

"Don't call me that!" Richard said with fierce as he pulled out his gun, pointing it at Batman.

"Look, I don't know what Slade has told you, or what he's done to you," Batman said, putting his hands up in defense, showing that he means no harm, "but whatever it was, is wrong. I don't know what you think I did to you, but we have done nothing but look for you since you've disappeared."

"Disappeared? You mean from your escape? Well, you may have found me, but I'm not going back with you. Trying to trick me again..." Richard said, letting himself pull the trigger.

Batman easily dodged the horribly bad aiming, before righting himself once again. After finding Strange, he really wasn't surprised with Robin's actions. The terrible shot however, he couldn't tell if it was poor training on the kids part, or if he was subconsciously missing. That being said, was Strange just lucky, or did Robin subconsciously shoot to injure, rather than kill?

"You must have been the one that shot Strange, with an aim like that," Batman accused.

"Yea, what about it?"

"It's no wonder he survived."

Batman watched the surprise pass across the boys face, along with the hint of relief that he was hoping for. The Robin he knew was definitely still there, just a bit lost.

Richard wasn't sure why, but he was relieved that Strange lived. Slade may have said that he had killed before and he may have regrettably killed the dog, but for some reason, the thought of killing another person seemed wrong and he wasn't sure if he wanted to start creating new memories filled with death and blood. The murder of Dr. Strange turned out to be a failure and the murder of the man that sat in the apartment was put on hold due to the interruption of Batman. However, he knew it wouldn't be long before he would have to kill, something, for some reason, he beginning to dread.

"Face it," Batman said, taking a step towards the boy dressed in black and orange, "you weren't meant for that kind of life."

"You don't know what you are talking about...you're just trying to trick me!" Richard accused.

"You think maybe that's why you don't know how to aim properly?" Batman said, almost sounding angry, taking another step towards Richard.

Richard began to shake the closer that Batman got to him. He was nervous, even though he didn't have a certain reason why he should be.

"Richard! What are you doing! Shoot him!" A voice buzzed in his ear, startling him, making him drop the gun.

Immediately Batman swooped down and picked up the fallen weapon, quickly dismantling it and throwing the pieces off to the side. Richard got into a defensive stance, ready to fight if need be.

His earpiece buzzed to life again, giving him orders.

"Leave! Now!"

"I don't want to hurt you Dick." Batman said to him.

"Dick?" Richard asked quietly, more to himself than anybody else. It was a name he had forgotten until now. Now however, he knew the name as his own. He didn't know how he knew this, but he did. Perhaps because it felt so right. It was the first thing since being drugged that felt right. The simple utterance of that name, somehow let a crack seep through in his mind, shining a glimmer of light into his dark world. It was a name that people who knew him well called him. Other people called him Richard, but those close to him, knew better. To them he was Dick. So why then, would Slade call him Richard rather than Dick?

"What are you doing! I said leave! NOW!" Slade yelled over the communicator that sat in his ear, making him jump back in a panic.

He knew better than to stay any longer. Following the order, Richard took off, running across the roof and jumping off the edge, using his grappling hook to catch on to slow his fall to the ground. The moment his feet hit the concrete, he took off running, quickly dodging out of sight. Dodging in and out of alleyways and in and out of the shadows. It took a bit, but finally he was able to shake up his trail and lose the Bat.

…or so he thought.

_**†The Batcave†**_

After Batman had returned to the cave he gathered the four teens, a plan already formed into his head. He knew they would need to gather together and take Slade by surprise if they were to get Robin out of there. He knew it would be a fight, both against Slade and against Robin.

"What happened? Did you find something?" Beast Boy asked as the four remaining Titans now stood in from of Batman in the cave.

"Another lead perhaps?" Starfire added in.

The teens were excited to have been called down. It wasn't often that the Bat would have information to tell them, or at least be willing or share it. When he had sent them home, they had expected for that to be the end of it for the night. They came back to the manor with plans of getting ready for bed and picking the search back up again tomorrow, just as they had they day before and every day since he went missing. Now, here they stood, in the middle of the Batcave with Batman telling them that he needs to talk to them about something important.

"I never thought I would be saying this to you, but I need your help. I did find something," Batman said, the group of teens all listening with open ears, "I found Robin."

The teens that stood before him became wide eyed as they all began to shout their various questions at him. Their combined voices sounding more like static that anything intelligible. Needless to say, Batman didn't have much patience for this kind of thing.

"Quiet!" He shouted, getting them all to shut up at once. "Now, one at a time."

Expectedly, they all turned to Cyborg, knowing as their temporary group leader, he would be able to get the information that they all wanted to know.

"Where is he?"

"He's at a compound in the south end of Gotham." Batman answered.

"Why didn't you bring him home? Is he ok?" Cyborg asked.

"When I went back to check in on Vince Ream, I found him. That's where I found Robin. He was on his way there to take Vince down."

The Titans couldn't help but feel uneasy at this information, especially after the whole Strange incident earlier that night. The Robin that they know would never have shot anyone. They knew where he stood on the use of guns and knew that he would not tolerate having to use one himself. Seeing their expressions of shock, Batman continued, answering their unasked questions.

"The drug that Strange was creating, it seems that Slade had already administered to Robin, which, I suspect is why he sent him to take out Strange. He was trying to get rid of the witnesses. I grabbed the files that Strange had on the drug while I was at his office down in the Art District. Hopefully I will be able to use those to figure out how to counter the drug once we have him."

"And how do we manage that?" Raven asked.

"This is where you guys come in. We are to head to the compound and take them straight on. I need you guys to find Robin and bring him back here. I'm sure he'll try and fight you, struggle to get free, but I need you to get him secured and get him back here as quickly as possible. You can't let him escape or we will have to do it all over again and I'm sure next time, finding him will be much harder and the damage done may be irreversible. Don't be afraid to hurt him if you need to, I'd rather have him here and injured than to continue to be in the hands of Slade."

"What if we try and sedate him?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't want to run the risk of any drug interfering with the chemicals that they injected with him, especially if they used Xenothium. We don't know how much is in his system or how it would react to other chemicals. You're best bet would be to try and knock him out."

"I'm guessing you're going after Slade?" Cyborg questioned.

Batman nodded, not needing words to confirm his need for vengeance.

"So the plan is to get in and get him out. I want to say that it sounds simple, but I know Robin. He'll put up a fight for sure and he won't make it easy for us. Even when we fought Robin during the first apprenticeship he kicked our butts without even trying..." Cyborg began.

"Well, in all fairness neither were we." Raven said cutting him off.

"You guys will get it done and get him here. Bottom line. We don't have room for mistakes. Now get ready, we leave in two minutes." Batman ordered.

* * *

><p>So yay, Robin didn't actually kill Strange! Yay, morals are still intact! Please don't forget to review!<p>

**Just click right there**

**V**

**V**

**V**


	15. In the Dark and Out of Harm

**A/N: **ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen: In the Dark and Out of Harm<strong>

_**†Slade's Hideout†**_

Richard returned to the compound with relief washing over him. He was happy to hear that Strange had survived the gunshot and part of him was relieved that Batman had showed up when he did. While it scared him to know that the two were so close after everything that happened, he was relieved that he didn't have to shoot the man, or rather, that he didn't hit him.

It was a strange thing really, to go from wanting to murder someone to being happy that they are alive. While in the moment and faced with Dr. Strange and the man that had assisted him, he wanted nothing more than to make sure that they didn't live to see another day. When the moment came he felt so angry that nothing else mattered. Now though, now that the moment had passed and he wasn't faced with dealing with what had happened, he was relieved.

As he walked through the entrance to the compound that was contained inside of the warehouse, he knew that Slade was not going to be happy with him for failing on both accounts. Surely he had heard the exchange that took place up on the roof top. Something inside of him told him that he should proceed with caution and that he should be afraid of what was to come.

And he was.

He didn't know, couldn't remember, what there was to be afraid of, couldn't remember how Slade behaved when you let him down, he just knew that the feeling of fear was quickly growing inside of him. His heart began to speed up and he became nervous with every step that he took towards the training room where he knew Slade would be waiting. It seemed to be the place where anything they did took place, other than eating.

Sure enough, when he entered the doorway of the room, Slade was standing there waiting, facing him with his arms resting behind his back. He slowly made his was into the room. He noticed the floor he walked over was still stained red from the blood that was spilled there earlier. He was happy to see that the body, however, had been removed. He wasn't sure if he could have handled that in this moment. He slowly approached the man until he came to stand in front of him. His stance and posture told Richard that he meant business.

"You failed," was the only thing that he said to the boy, but the words carried so much more. They demanded an explanation, threatened the boy to make an excuse, accused him for even allowing it to happen and communicated the disappointment that Slade felt in him.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting for Batman to show up and..."

"His involvement was an unseen obstacle that couldn't have been avoided," Slade cut him off. "What I am talking about is Strange. You missed. Your aim was off and you failed to deliver a fatal blow. What's worse, is you failed to make sure that he was deceased when you left. It's only a matter of time now before we are found and they come to try and take you back."

"I made sure to loose him before I returned. There's no way..."

Richard was cut off once again by a backhand to the face, effectively silencing him as blood ran down a small cut from the force of Slade hand upon his cheek bone. Somehow, he was not surprised at what had just happened. He wasn't expecting a physical altercation when he walked into the room, but he felt that he should have been. This somehow seemed to be normal. Thinking back, he remembered Slade saying that his training was tough...he wondered if this was what he had meant. How often had things gotten to the point where instruction and discipline became physical and to what degree did it escalate? He had a feeling that he was about to find out.

"Do you not realize that because you let Strange live, they now have him in the hospital where he is getting treatment? Once he is better, do you not think that he will immediately snitch and tell them where we are?"

"He knows?" Richard asked, surprised, taking a step back.

"Yes, he knows and now they will as well," Slade barked as he moved in closer to Richard. "all because of your foolishness!"

Slade reached out and grabbed Richard by the front of his uniform, pulling him so that they were face to face, his feet dangling from the ground. Suddenly, whatever he was planning on doing from there, was disrupted as he paused for a moment, as if a thought entered his head, causing a change in direction. Slade growled as he threw the boy harshly to the ground.

Richard landed with a thud, receiving a solid kick to his ribs. It happened so quickly he hardly had time to curl into a ball to protect himself from further blows. To his surprise, however, Slade simply glared down at him. From the ground, he imagined Slade to be a giant, ready and waiting to just squash him beneath his fingers. He felt so insignificant as he laid there, waiting for Slade to make some kind of move.

"Get to your room. Thanks to your idiotic move, we are going to have to change location and quick. I'll come get you when we are about to leave. _This_ however, is not over. We will be having another _chat _once we are resettled."

Richard wasted no time getting to his feet and rushing out of the room, past the red stained floor and down the hallway. He didn't care if he was going to be shut off in his room, as long as he was away from his 'mentor'. Within moments he was standing in the middle of his room, rage replacing the fear he had felt a moment ago. He grabbed his mask and tossed it to the floor in anger, like a child would when throwing a tantrum.

**_††_**

Outside of the warehouse, the four Titans surrounded the building waiting for Batman's command. He had headed up to the rooftop to find a way in and assess the situation. Upon arrival he had been able to locate five cameras that overlooked the outside and had warned the Titans of their position, hoping to avoid being spotted by anyone inside.

It wasn't long before they were given the order and headed inside through the various side and back doors found on the building, their locks easily picked. They weren't thought to have a alarm system attached to them, making their presence seem very unexpected, but they wanted to hurry and get inside and to Slade and Robin, in any case.

As they entered the warehouse they were surprised to find another smaller building. It was oddly shaped and didn't contain any windows. The door seemed to be a square wall the stuck out from the rest, sliding open.

Batman jumped down from the roof of the small building, walking over to stand in front of the 'door'.

"This seems to be the only way in and out of the compound. I need one of you to stand guard while we go in, making sure that once we are in, no one gets out."

"Starfire?" Cyborg asked, "You're the strongest out of us, I think it'd be hardest to get by you."

Starfire nodded in compliance.

"Alright," Batman said, "then the rest of us will head inside. You three find Robin. Remember, detain him at all costs. Do _not_ let him get away. I'll take down Slade."

Cyborg walked up to the sliding door, using his strength to slide it open. As they entered, their eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting of the smaller compound. To their right was a long hallway and to their left a short hallway, if it could even be considered that, and a room. In front of them, a long hallway, connecting off to the left at one point and ending at the end with a steel door, two other doors littered the hallway along the way.

Batman stepped off to the left, checking the closest room, only to find nothing but a monitoring system. On several of the monitors he could see inside Titans Tower, a sight that did little to put him at ease. The thought of Slade being able to so intimately watch the Titans going about their daily lives was less that settling. Several other monitors shows areas of Gotham and others of areas inside and out of the compound. Most of the outside cameras he was able to detect, but was surprised to find many more that he had overlooked.

Finally, his eyes settled on one final monitor, where he could see Robin sitting on a bed, back leaning against the wall and knees lazily pulled up so that his feet rested on the bed. His arms casually rested on top of his knees. It was almost a bored, arrogant pose, one that he knew well. The boy was pissed about something. It was the same position he would always find the boy sitting in when they would have one of their arguments.

It only took him a moment to figure out where the room would be located. He should have guess the moment they walked into the compound. Obviously the steel door would be used to keep something in, rather than something out.

Batman stepped back into the hallway, where the teens were waiting patiently.

"Did you find anything?" Beast Boy asked.

"Robin should be in the room behind the steel door. You guys check it out, I'll head down here and see if I can find Slade," Batman said, pointing towards the right hallway. "If you happen to run into Slade, call. Don't attempt to bring him down on your own."

The three teens nodded and headed down the hallway towards the metal door as Batman headed down the right hallway. Beast Boy slowed as he passed the two closed doors, not far off from their destination. Knowing that he heard a familiar sound he stopped, only momentarily before catching up to the other two. He had to stay focused. They had to get to their friend first.

The metal door that supposedly separated them from their friend wasn't as big as one would expect it to be. In fact it was no bigger than a regular door. The only differences were that is was obviously a strong steel and the standard door handle was missing. Instead, there were two handles, one to be pulled up and one to be pulled down, to function much like the doors you would find on a pet carrier.

Giving the other two Titans one final look, Cyborg grabbed the two handles, pulling them toward each other, unlocking the door.

**_††_**

Richard looked up as he heard the door unlocking.

_That was quick._

He had been expecting Slade or Wintergreen to walk through the door. He did not expect three teens, who he immediately recognized as the Teen Titans. Again, he was flooded with emotions that only served to confuse him. He didn't understand the feelings of longing, respect and responsibility that overwhelmed him.

He hopped off of his bed and jumped into a defensive fighting position. Slade said that they'd be , coming, but this was all too soon. He didn't know how they had gotten here so fast, but he was sure he knew what they were here for.

"Relax, we're here to take you home."

_Cyborg._

"Yea, I figured that much." Richard answered, narrowing his eyes.

"You don't understand, we don't want to hurt you..."

_Raven._

"Dude, we just want you to come home."

_Beast Boy._

"I am home!"

Richard quickly lunged at the teens that stood in front of him, effectively hitting Cyborg in the face and shoving him out of the way, only to run into a giant gorilla.

Caught off guard, Richard took a step back and got into a defensive fighting position just as Cyborg began to recover.

"Just calm down, man! I'm telling you, we don't want to hurt you..."

"But we will if we have to." Beast Boy finished for the mechanical teen, transformed back into his original self.

"I'd like to see you try!" Richard retorted.

Next thing he knew, he was encircled in a black aura, no doubt Raven's doing. He struggled against the dark magic, desperately trying to free himself from its hold.

"Sorry Rob," at the mention of the name, Richard looked up just in time to see Cyborg standing in from of him, hand raised before his world turned black.

The three teens rushed to his side, catching the unconscious boy as Raven let him go.

"We have to get him out of here, now!" Cyborg ordered as he picked the boy up.

The three rushed out of the compound and into to a shocked Starfire. Cyborg gently handed him over to Starfire, letting the the girl take hold of him.

"What happened!" The alien girl immediately asked.

"No time to explain. You're the fastest, we need you to take him back to the cave. Alfred should know what to do from there!"

The girl nodded as she took to the air and bursted through the sky, heading straight towards Wayne Manor.

"You two go ahead, I'll meet you two there."

"BB, we gotta go, we don't have time for this!" Cyborg said.

"I just gotta do something, I'll catch up to you!"

Without even waiting for a reply, Beast Boy turned, heading back inside the compound. The other two Titans didn't have much of a choice but to trust the boy knew what he was doing.

**_††_**

Back inside the compound, Batman had found Slade in his research room, packing up boxes of files. Just a quick glance told him that they were files used in creating a brainwashing drug for Robin. Moments before that he had run into an elderly man, who put up a good fight for someone his age. He didn't go down as easily as he had originally thought, but did go down nonetheless. Now, it was just him and Slade, who had already set down his boxes to face the Bat.

"I should have known you would get here before I got out." Slade said.

"Game's over Slade."

"I don't think so. I've been playing this game for too long to just hand him over to you now."

"You don't have a choice."

"I don't think you realize just how long this plan has been in motion. In fact, you helped me out a lot by letting him leave the city on his own. You just kind of threw him out to the wolves, didn't you."

"You don't know what you are talking about."

"You two are just alike," Slade said, "stubborn, unable to face the truth. Unable to face what is right in front of you."

Batman narrowed his eyes, waiting for Slade to continue. If there was one thing that he had learned about villains in all of his years as a masked hero, was the bad guy liked to talk. He liked to brag about his accomplishments. Slade wasn't any different in that respect. He knew he was good and liked for his enemy to know just by how much he was bested.

"You probably don't realize this, but we've done business together, _Bruce._In fact, that was how I even became aware of your young protege. It was then that I realized I wanted him for myself. That he'd be a fine heir to the legacy that I have built. I extended our business for a bit once I figured out who it was behind the masks. I also realized just how protective you were of the boy and how resisting he was to it, as most teens are. And so, I decided to drive you two apart. I laid out clues for you, made you paranoid. A few crushed Robin emblems, a dead robin here and there, until it escalated to the murders of two young boys..."

"The two boys in masks..." Batman interjected his realization, remembering a scene he had come across is Gotham, just before he tried to stop Richard from being Robin. It was probably what drove him to that decision. He knew that there was someone out there taking an interest in his young ward.

"Yes. I specifically chose them because of their close resemblance to Richard and stuck black domino masks on them, as a slap in the face. If you didn't understand the threat against your bird before, I was going to make sure you got the message. Just as I guess, you kept it from him. He still, to this day, doesn't know about any of that, I'm sure.

"You knew that someone was after him and so you tried to shut down the operation of Robin, which drove him away. I only planned to drive a wedge between you two, but my planned worked out better for me and suddenly, he was alone and helpless. Impressionable. Mine for the taking."

Angry at Slade for everything that he's done and angry at himself for not being able to put the pieces together sooner, he lunged out at Slade in a blind fury, fist headed directly towards the other man's face.

Slade dodged the fist, ducking down and swinging his leg, knocking the hero off of his feet. Batman was back on his feet by the time Slade was able to right himself, lunging at Slade once again.

Slade pulled out his bo staff, blocking the hero's attack. Grabbing the bo staff, Batman shoved Slade until he hit the wall, trapping him.

"Such a shame, Strange living. I was really looking forward to him making his first kill...if you don't count the dog." Slade said dismissively, trying to push the Bat's buttons.

It worked as Batman brought his knee up into Slade's stomach, followed by one hand letting go of the bo staff, pulling back, only to rush forward right into the mask of the mad man. He was now like a parent who was trying to protect his young. All that mattered was that Slade went down, giving him the motivation and added strength to stop the man.

As Slade doubled over, Batman grabbed him by his collar, throwing him to the ground, just as he had done to Richard earlier on. He grabbed the bo staff as Slade tried to get up, only to knock him down again with his own weapon.

Knowing when to retreat from a losing battle, Slade grabbed a pellet from his belt before he could be struck again. Smoke filled the room, making Batman cough and lost his ability to see clearly.

It only took a moment for the smoke to clear, but once it did, Slade was no where to be seen and Batman knew there was no use in trying to track him down. By now, Slade would be gone and he had other things to worry about, such as if the Titans were successful or not.

Bringing his hand up to the side of his mask, he activated the communication system set up between him and Cyborg's internal communication system.

"Were you successful?"

"Yes, we were able to knock him out and get him back to the cave. Alfred has him restrained and is tending to him, waiting for him to wake up. What about Slade?"

"Don't worry about him at the moment. Just stay with Robin. I'm on my way." Batman shook his head as he headed out, eager to get home and see the damage.

* * *

><p><strong>Please take a moment and leave a review! I love getting them :)<strong>


	16. Nothing's Ever Built to Last

**Hey guys, sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but school is kicking my butt! Also explains for the shortness of the chapter. This last month and a half school will probably be a bit sketchy, just as a warning. Still hit over 2k, but I think its my shortest one yet. As always, thanks for all the feedback! As always let me know if you spot errors, especially since this chapter goes mostly unedited. ENJOY!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Sixteen: Nothing's Ever Built To Last<strong>

_**†Batcave†**_

Batman returned to the cave to find Alfred already working to secure Richard to a bed. From what he had already gathered throughout the night's events, he was positive that the boy would not be happy when he awoke. Looking around the room he could see three of the Titans working away, trying to help the best that they could. Cyborg was at the computer, already working away to discover just what was running through the kid's system, from a blood sample that must have already been taken. Raven was meditating nearby and Starfire was assisting Alfred with the restraints. Beast Boy, on the other hand, was no where to be seen.

"Where's your friend?" Batman asked, stepping behind the mechanical teen, looking over his shoulder at the findings.

"He stayed behind and hasn't come back yet." Cyborg stopped and turned in the chair, glancing back towards the exit. "I would have thought that he'd return by now..."

"Perhaps you should contact him. Slade's still out there and I don't need a liability running around for him to snatch up."

"He got away?"

"Fled. Slade's smart and knows when to stand and fight and when to back down. I'm sure this won't be the last of him. Call your friend and tell him to get back here."

"There's no need." Raven interrupted, stepping aside Batman. Everyone in the room turned their attention towards the entrance of the cave to see a large green gorilla, making its way towards them.

Cyborg hopped out of his chair, meeting the animal in the center of the cave.

"Dude, where have you been we were just about to..." Cyborg stopped mid sentence as the gorilla gently set something it had been holding onto the ground. It only took a moment for him to notice that it had been a dog. A rather bloody dog.

The green gorilla slowly shifted back into small figure of Beast Boy.

"When we were going after Robin, I thought I heard something and so when we got him out of there, I went back. He was shut off in one of the rooms. It was his whimpering that I had heard. He's hurt pretty badly. Looks like he was shot. I couldn't just leave him to die."

"That was probably the intention. He was probably left behind, in the room to die." Cyborg said.

"If someone can remove the bullet, I may be able to heal him. No completely, but at least enough so that his injury will no longer threaten his life." Raven intervened, coming to stand between the two.

"I trust you can take care of the bullet?" Batman said, resting his hand on Cyborg's shoulder. "I'll finish the analysis on Robin. I collected files that I can add to your findings."

Cyborg looked back at Richard, noticing that Alfred and Starfire had completed their task. Richard was secure and not going anywhere for awhile. Batman was more than qualified to take over his work from here. With nothing left for him to do, he knelt down and began work on the dog, with the assistance of Raven, right there in the middle of the cave, wasting no time at all. Beast Boy stood by, ready to help in anyway, while Starfire stood at Richard's side.

**_††_**

Richard wasn't sure how long he had been surrounded by the darkness and he wasn't sure how it had came to be so. He had memories, if they could be called that; flashes of random images, people he knew, random moments that stood out in his mind. Confusion and anger consumed him at first, bounding him so tightly, he could hardly breathe. However, the more he wandered, lost in his thoughts, the more the anger dwindled, the more the images faded and the less he seemed to care. He didn't care that he couldn't remember who the people were or what the moments meant. He no longer minded the confusion, it was a familiar feeling, something continuous that he had come to rely on. Perhaps it was because he had become so numb to every other feeling, numb to the emptiness around he, that he enjoyed something, _anything_, that was familiar.

The next thing he knew the darkness around him began to fade away, along with the emptiness around him. Consciousness began to grab hold of him, forcing him awake. Images began to take shape. A dark familiar figure loomed above him.

"Dick, can you hear me?"

Richard looked the man in the face. Of course he knew who he was right away. He was Batman...but what that meant to _him_, he wasn't sure. He had two sets of ideas: One that told him that Batman was the enemy, someone that was only going to do him harm. And then another that told him that Batman was the one person he could trust, someone that would protect him. The two ideals confused him greatly, but honestly, he really didn't care which one it was. All he could be certain of was that he was tired. Mentally exhausted. Emotionally numb.

He tried to sit up on his bed, only to be held back. A quick observation of his immediate surrounding showed that he was bound down to the bed. Giving little struggle, he quickly gave up, remaining still, looking up into the face of the Dark Knight.

"We weren't sure how you were going to be once you woke up. It was for your own safety." The man said, motioning to the restraints. "If I undo them, can you remain calm so we can talk?"

Richard shrugged in agreement. He doubted that he had the energy to do anything but remain calm. Batman went straight to undoing the binds the held him down. One free, Richard sat up on the bed, turning to face the man in front of him, allowing him feet to dangle from the bed. Hunching over, hands in his lap, he waited for the other one to start.

"How much do you remember?"

Richard shrugged in response.

"That doesn't help me much, I need some communication here."

"I don't..." Richard's voice came out hoarse and weak from lack of use and the burn in the back of his dry throat was making itself clear. Batman handed him a glass of water that had been sitting next to the bed, which was set up in the corner of...the batcave? Yes, he was in the batcave, this he was sure of.

Taking the glass, Richard drank readily until the glass was empty.

"You've been out for four days, its not surprising you're speech is a bit off."

"Four days?" Much better. Richard continued on. "I don't remember too much. I remember Slade..."

"What about Slade? What exactly do you remember?"

"I'm not sure. It was wrong. I remember being wrong, just everything...yet, I was supposed to be there, right? And you...everything so contradicting..."

"Slade captured you from Titans tower a few months ago and held you captive while he employed a man named Dr. Strange to help him create a form of mind control drug. Its purpose was to mess with your head, more specifically your memories. The drug that was created was able to suppress those memories enough for Slade to change your reality. He was able to alter how you viewed the people you encountered and the actions that you did. He did this by giving you new "memories", implanting stories in your head and convincing you that his lies were actually truth."

Richard sat there silently, taking everything in. Really, he had no reason to doubt the man's story. Then again, he had no reason to believe it either.

"The Titans, your team, and I were able to track you down and save you from Slade. We brought you back here and after running a few tests, making sure that it was safe, we kept you in a temporary induced coma while we let some of the drug that Slade injected you with run out of your system while we worked on a similar drug that will counteract it."

"I think I've heard this all before."

Batman looked at the boy, confused.

"I remember. This is the same story that Slade told me..."

"It's not a matter of whether you believe me or not and I'm not gonna sugar coat things for you..."

"I'm not gonna run" Richard said defensively. Batman only stared back at his former protege, arms crossed.

"Look, I'm tired. I'm tired of not understanding anything, not understanding myself. I'm tired of being so confused. I don't care anymore. I'm not sure if I ever really did care. I don't know what's going to happen from here, just so long as _something_ happens. I just want this to end." Richard confessed.

"I think that I can make that happen for you. Slade's drugs are still working their way through your system and are originally supposed to be maintained with further doses...seeing that we have cut you off of them and are using another medication to help speed their way through your system, explains your exhaustion, also is most likely adding to your lack of caring. The withdrawal from Slade's drug is effecting your endorphin levels, which in turn is putting you into a state of depression."

Batman walked over to a nearby table and picked up a syringe and vial, bringing it back to where Richard remained on the bed. He quickly tied a tourniquet around the boy's upper arm and disinfected the injection sight.

"This may sting a little" Batman said as he lifted the boy's arm, injecting the fluid right into the vein. Richard winced as the the fluid mixed into his blood stream. "I'm hoping that it will only take a day for this to take effect and for your mind to clear up. In the meantime, I'd like you to spend a little bit of time with Raven."

"Raven?" Richard asked.

As if to answer his question, a young girl walked up next to Batman. She was pale, with purple hair and wore a long cloak. He knew her, knew what she was capable of and had a pretty good idea of what she was going to do.

"And if I refuse?" Richard asked, more out of curiosity.

"You'll be sedated and she will continue as planned." Batman answered.

"Just checking."

"My comm will be online. Call if you need me." Batman said to Raven before turning and walking into the darkness of the cave. Where he was headed, Richard didn't know. Movement pulled his attention back to Raven, who was climbing onto the bed to sit cross legged. Richard turned towards her and mirrored her figure. The two were now face to face with one another.

"Just sit still and stay calm." Raven instructed as she raised her hands to either side of his head, closing her eyes. Richard did the same, taking a deep breathe.

He wasn't afraid. He knew what she was doing and it didn't bother him. Right or wrong, he need for clarity overshadowed his fear of being controlled. He was desperate to understand something, anything. Even if his understanding was false in the end, he figured it was better than what he had been living with. Somehow though, he didn't t fear Raven or distrust her. The idea of her entering into his mind didn't bother him and he felt safe doing so.

"You've done this before haven't you...to me, I mean." Richard said, opening his eyes to study her response.

Raven flinched, her eyes tightening, as if she was concentrating hard before nodding slightly and shushing him. Richard closed his eyes once more, waiting for something to happen. Slowly, he felt a presence creep up in his mind, very lightly at first, but then gaining a firm grasp. It was warm and began to rework his memories, bringing forth things he had forgotten, things he wouldn't have recalled on his own. Raven seemed to know more about him than he did, like she had seen these memories once before. All he could do now was wait until she was finished. Who knows how long that would take.

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! Ace is alive! Other than that, I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, pretty slow moving, but as always, reviews are much loved and much appreciated! <strong>


	17. A Fate That We Deserve

Hey everyone! Look who is still alive! Sorry this last chapter took so long, end of the semester got really really busy with project and final papers...then I chilled out a bit...I know, excuses excuses...

Anyway, here is the final chapter, if you can believe it! ENJOY!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17: A Fate That We Deserve<strong>

_**†Wayne Manor†**_

Home. For the first time in a while, he was home. Dick sat is his room, his real room, within Wayne Manor, sitting on his bed, leaning against the backboard. Next to him, Ace remained still, laying on the bed and allowing the boy to slowly pet his head. The scene was familiar, an occurrence that happened almost any spare moment Robin had spent in his room back at Slade's compound, which had surprisingly turned out to be hidden within Gotham City.

It had been three weeks since Raven had began to help Dick sort through his memories. All together it took a week and about a dozen session to help undo most of the mental damage that Slade had caused and although his memories seemed to be in order and the drug was fully out of his system, something within him still felt off. Things had definitely changed during his time with Slade; approximately three months. To him, it felt longer. Slade had created days for him whilst being held hostage, therefore, in a way, expanding his time spent there. Or at least that is the conclusion Dick had come up with. He still wasn't too sure about so many things, such as, where did he go from here? How does he continue on with the rest of his life and just whose life does he continue?

Option 1: Richard. It certainly wouldn't be the life of Richard. At the moment, he hated when the name was mentioned, as it only served as a reminder to what he went through. What he had done. What he had almost done. More than once he was so close to actually killing someone, yet, luckily, he was stopped each time. He had tried to kill Vince and was saved by Batman. Yes, he believed that both he and Vince were saved from tragic fates and that is something he will never think otherwise. Strange was saved thanks to his own subconscious stepping in and stopping the fatal shot...or at least that is what Batman had believed to have happened. Maybe he just didn't want to face the fact that Dick was capable of something so horrible and unlike Batman, Dick wasn't so sure of himself. Deep down he believed it was because he was, thankfully, still learning and didn't have much precision, causing him to fire the non-lethal shot. Same with Ace. He luckily didn't kill the pooch when he shot him, something that makes his heart sink more than anything else that happened. Even now, he couldn't explain the immense guilt that he felt. He had shot Ace. Ace. His friend. Who was there through almost the entire ordeal. Who gave him hope and something to hold onto. For that time, he was all Dick had...Richard had. And Richard had shot him, betrayed him. He was the one person that Ace had counted on, relied on. And Richard had shot him. Upon seeing the boy after being healed by Raven, Ace came up to him happily, as if nothing had happened. He had been completely forgiving. An unconditional love.

Option 2: Robin. He could return to Jump City and continue his role as the fearless leader of the Teen Titans. He didn't feel much like a leader anymore. Not with the things he had done. How could he possibly lead a team who depended on him, when he couldn't even take care of himself? How can he expect others to respect him when he can't find any reason to do so himself? And honestly, he wasn't so fearless anymore. He could understand why Batman preferred to work alone. No matter what happened, you were responsible for yourself and no one else and if you wanted to close up within yourself, you could, no questions asked. He knew that the other were worried about him and if he hadn't of insisted that they go back to Jump last week, he was sure they would still be in the Manor, trying to cheer him up and remind him of the old times. But the old times were gone and he didn't have the desire to go back. He didn't have to strength to pretend. He was tired. Tired of trying, tired of pretending, tired of forcing himself to try and fit into a role he no longer belonged to. He was tired of the stares and the whispers the others had convinced themselves that he couldn't hear. He could hear them, questioning him and whether he was really all there. Whispers about him, whispers about Slade, speculations of what had happened and trying to plan what his future was. He knew they meant well, but he'd be damned if anyone was going to try and 'direct' him again, in any sort of direction. Not Slade. Not Batman. Not the Titans. So he had sent them away and with them, the title of leader that he no longer felt he deserved. When he said his goodbyes to the Titans, he bid farewell to Robin as well.

Option 3: Dick. Someone from his past that he hardly knew, like an underdeveloped character in a story who he had no idea what to do with. Dick was the complete opposite of Robin, the Boy Wonder and lightyears away from Richard. Dick was a lost little boy living in somebody else's world. He was a child wandering through the world on his own. Ok, maybe not literally. He had Bruce and he had Alfred, but in the end, when it came down to Dick, he felt so alone. He didn't know how to be Dick. He didn't know what Dick liked to do, nor what kind of person he was like. All he knew was how he used to be, as if he was an old friend that he hadn't seen in years, older and more mature than the past version.

In the end, he would have no choice but to go with option three and discover who Dick Grayson really was. He knew he didn't want to give up the hero gig. It had given his life so much meaning and it was something that was so ingrained in him that he could never see himself _not_ being a hero and saving people. Perhaps, it was even a way to achieve redemption for his murderous attempts. Yes, he knew he would definitely continue on. Not with the Titans. Not as Robin. And maybe not right away, but he would continue. He would just have to figure a few things out first and find that hero within.

Dick removed his hand from the top of Ace's head, who only looked up in curiosity at the loss of attention. Dick's attention now went to a small book that sat next to him on the bed as he began to flip through the pages.

**HUDSON UNIVERSITY **

**Course Guide**

**Fall-Spring Semester **

He wasn't sure where the idea had come from, but he found himself being lured to the school. Perhaps only as something to get his mind off of the things that had happened. He wasn't even sure if he wanted a degree of some sort, but found the idea of attending college interesting. Bruce could easily forge documents and come up with the cover story of him graduating early, his whole reason for leaving Gotham and going off to "boarding school". This was the first thing he had that made him look forward to the future and actually made him a bit excited at the same time. It was something new and he was never against gather more knowledge. Besides, it would be good for him to get out and interact with people, especially those outside of the hero community. The school was close enough for him to be able to remain at the Manor and attend classes as he doubted Bruce would allow him to go away for college, not with Slade still on the loose.

Slade. Rumor has it that he had left town and with no sign of him, Dick wouldn't have been surprised if he had moved on to a new city, though he doubted that this would be the end of him. There will come a time when they will meet again and when they did...well, he wasn't sure what would happen, but he hoped that next time he would be ready for him. Batman, even with the rumors of his absence, still search for the man that held his son hostage, whether it be the man himself or information on his location. Dick knew that if Batman found out where he was, he would hunt him down and so help Slade if the two of them ever crossed paths.

Dick set the book back down and slid off the bed, feet standing firmly on the floor. A quick glance at his laptop that sat on his desk reminded him of the call he would have to make. Ever since the Titans had left they communicated over the webcam on Dick's laptop, which Starfire made sure occurred at least three times a day. Once to say good morning, once in the afternoon to 'catch up' and once more before bedtime to say their goodnights. He didn't mind though, the phone calls helped to keep him connected to his extended family, the ones he would have to tell of his decision to not return to Jump. That was a call he was not looking forward to. He knew the disappointed and worried looks that they would give him and how he would tell them to not worry, that this was for the best. And, after some discussion, they would reluctantly agree and tell him to do what he thinks will make him happy, though they most likely won't agree or completely understand the decision, especially Star. He would promise to keep in touch and not let them fade away and he would tell them how much they mean to him. Finally, he would hope and pray that he can keep that promise and that over time, they remain just as close as they are now.

Dick rubbed his face and made his way toward the door as Ace quickly hopped off the bed to catch up to the boy. Before he could talk to the Titans about his decisions, he would first need to talk to Bruce and get him on board. He was sure that his support would be easily attained and Bruce wouldn't question him choice. This was his choice. His life. His future. His to decide.

* * *

><p><strong>Probably not the best ending in history, but the idea of Dick going off to school is something that I had wanted to happened since the very beginning. If you think that this is totally random, I actually got the idea when I found out that Dick actually attended Hudson University for a semester and I found it interesting. Not something you usually read about either. :P As always, leave me a commentreview, it would make me super happy! Hopefully I will see everyone one around FFNET!**


End file.
